Understanding distributed agile development or teams is easier when we consider distribution of agile teams along two dimensions. The first dimension is separation. Separation occurs along time zones, physical distance, language, culture, The second dimension of a distributed agile development effort will be gravity. Building and sustaining distributed agile development efforts requires a process that focuses on teams and building up their protocols one at a time. Tools can help in this distribution process and enable a rapid evolution of team behavior. However, most organizations
simple look at the tool as the means and never find the way. As a result most efforts of distributed agile development are still done very mechanistically which often leads to process fog and low success outcomes. The dimensions of separation and gravity gives us a way to consider things that encourage distance vs. those things that bring the team close together.
