How to Building Distributed Agile Development Teams

If you haven’t gone agile yet, what are you waiting for?

Over 50% of firms that use agile methodologies (particularly scrum) report higher satisfaction with deliverables and shorter time-to-market. Besides, product quality and employee morale are increased.

But it isn’t all.

If you build your team correctly, distributed agile development can improve even more productivity.  

Here’s how to go about it.

What exactly is agile development?

Agile software development is cyclical, unlike the traditional linear or “waterfall” approach. It divides projects into sprints or iterations, short periods of quick delivery.

The development team delivers a fully functional application after each cycle. They then review the results with the customer and development needs for the next sprint before providing an improved product.

What is distributed software development?

Distributed development does not rely on in-house IT staff. Instead, some or all developers working on an app or another software product are based in a nearby country, hence the term “nearshoring.”

The in-house and remote teams work closely, share duties and goals, and communicate frequently. Consider them as one team, only “distributed” across international borders.

According to studies, a remote software development team will frequently outperform an entirely co-located workforce — as well as realize considerable cost savings and gain access to a larger talent pool — if a few management best practices are followed when constructing it.

Building Distributed Agile Development Teams

The best thing about distributed and agile software development is that they complement one other well.

Here are five distributed agile best practices to ensure the success of your location-independent agile teams:

1. Migrate all processes online

It was difficult enough before the epidemic to ensure good collaboration and communication among in-house and distributed teams. As remote work becomes increasingly common, this is becoming more difficult.

Daily scrums and meetings are typically required for agile development. In a post-COVID future, these and any other collaborative activities must be fully online to accommodate both distributed and remote in-house staff.

2. Allocate tasks strategically

One key to successful agile software development with distributed teams is to divide tasks geographically and based on each individual’s skills.

Distribute projects and deliverables across your in-house and external developers, and make sure to suitably onboard remote teams, explaining:

• Each development cycle phase
• Team roles
• Project goals
• Customer requirements
• Your expectations
• Evaluation criteria

This helps to diversify talents in each location while also providing a safety net in the case of a work disruption in one of the teams. Diverse and well-balanced skill sets also promote team autonomy and product ownership.

3. Maintain an ideal team size

As a general guideline, each distributed agile development team should have three to ten individuals. This facilitates collaboration, communication, and project planning. If possible, strive to match time zones by having all team members based in the same or surrounding countries.

4. Encourage collaboration

We’ve said it before, and we’ll repeat it: establishing successful collaboration between groups and individual team members is the most challenging task with dispersed agile development.

This goes beyond just synchronizing time zones and geographical regions. Distributed agile teams may also confront language difficulties and cultural differences, so ensuring everyone is on the same page is critical.

In this regard, good practices include:

• Meetings and planning discussions occur daily.
• Task communication must be consistent and effective.
• Utilizing online communication platforms such as Zoom and Slack

5. Reduce dependencies in software development 

Agile systems operate best when team members can work on as many development cycle phases as feasible concurrently rather than waiting for someone to finish anything. Reducing such dependencies is critical to the development of effective agile initiatives.

Distributed Agile Development Best Practices

Your work isn’t finished once you’ve assembled your agile team, and you must also handle it daily – and do so correctly. These agile practices can assist in this regard:

Ensure task accountability and traceability.

When each person is assigned a task, team leaders must be able to track who does what and if it is accomplished correctly and on time.

Fortunately, there are many agile project management solutions to select from. These can assist you in developing the practice of labelling jobs as “In progress,” “Stuck,” or “Done” to eliminate the need for updates, minimize communication issues, track project progress, and know immediately when a deliverable is overdue.

Make use of low-code development.

Low-code development isn’t appropriate for all agile projects but is substantially faster than high code. Low-code platforms enhance communication and make remote work easier for technical and non-technical teams, and Non-technical people can also detect and fix difficulties more easily.

The result? Increased agility, improved product development, and shorter time-to-market

Have proper distributed agile team structure & governance

Each agile team should have a scrum master to prepare sprints with goals aligned with the product delivery timeframe. A well-planned agile team structure is especially critical in large-scale projects with various stakeholders, including in-house developers, business teams, clients, and outsourced teams.

Above all, an effective governance team must share a common goal, plan, and timeframe. These high-level KPIs and performance reports, rather than the specifics, are what assist convey the larger picture.

Consider outsourcing distributed development.

Consider outsourcing your software development for increased productivity and time savings. Distributed agile teams frequently work best as seamless outsourced extensions of your in-house staff.

You may hand-pick the right and unique talents you require, saving time and money on hiring across many locations. And, for the most part, software outsourcing firms are agile and quickly adapt to remote development. They can also offer their expertise and understanding of agile methods, best practices, and distributed software development tools.

Looking for a reliable distributed development partner?

If you want to try remote development, you’ve come to the correct location.

Bestarion specializes in building distributed agile development teams. We specialize in assembling outstanding, dedicated teams to work for our clients from diverse places worldwide.

Our developers will work with you from the start of the project till your product touches the market.