Significance

In the early days of Agile adoption for software development work, some purists believed that agility and distributed teams could not coexist, going by this principle: "The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is via face-to-face conversation." Distributed teams are a reality that cannot be wished away, and, in most cases, they are a conscious choice due to some very convincing reasons like cost arbitrage, access to talent, and maintaining proximity with clients.

The Agile principle stated here provides a peek into a reality that enterprises must recognize: quality of communication is impacted negatively when a team is distributed. The bigger reality is that distributed teams face many challenges and if these challenges are not addressed, they can become an impediment for the team in enhancing its agility. The challenges are further compounded when two different organizations are involved, for example, the client is in...