Distributed Software Development: Best Practices Examined

Abstract: The area of distributed development is often said to be troublesome with different problems making the work harder. The aim of this study has been to identify work practices that can make distributed development more successful. A case study approach has been used to identify successful practices. Interviews were used as the primary method for data collection. To get a wide view of the area, the interviews covered differ-ent roles in the studied cases. The most interesting finding is that distributed development should not only be seen as a creator of problems, but also as an enabler of surplus values that are not possible to achieve in co-located development. Several practices have been identified, covering both how to gain the surplus values and how to avoid the problems commonly associated with distributed development.