An Agile Management Model for Distributed Software Development Teams
Management Model
Agile Development
Distributed Teams
Software Development
Agile management models are prevalent in current software project development. Their approach of incremental and iterative deliveries often establishes a closer value perspective for sponsors or product owners. For remote work or even hybrid setups, distributed teams pose management challenges, such as the need for effective communication and collaboration tools, monitoring progress and activity quality, and the generated product's quality. This work introduces the Agile Management Model for Distributed Software Development Teams (AgiTeD), a Scrum-inspired model grounded in transparency, inspection, adaptation, and quality. AgiTeD defines four roles, six events within a development cycle, and seven artifacts. The proposed model has been applied within a specific distributed working group tasked with developing eight projects in the context of the 5th Federal Regional Court since 2021. An initial analysis by surveying 23 developers from this working group highlighted some positive facets of AgiTeD for better supporting the work of distributed software development teams, emphasizing the Agile Leader role to ensure the full implementation of the model, the proposed cycle and its events, and the Repository and Communication Rules artifact to organize the teamwork. Ongoing and future work includes an analysis of the model by other roles and the development of a practical guide.