Support for Distributed Teams in eXtreme Programming

Abstract

The extreme Programming methodology (XP) relies on co-located collaboration of programming teams. This paper discusses problems and possible solutions when distributed teams decide to do XP. Communication and awareness support are the keys to the successful distribution of programming teams. The XP methodology is analysed with respect to these essential issues. We present TUKAN, which is a synchronous distributed team programming environment, which applies groupware research results to the XP domain and solves the problems which arise when XP is carried out by distributed teams. Keywords eXtreme Programming, CSCW, groupware, distribution, awareness, communication, coordination, TUKAN 1 Introduction The eXtreme Programming (XP) methodology [1] heavily relies on group members being co-located. Rich communications within the team and a high degree of awareness of the actions, which are performed by others, are essential aspects of XP. Unfortunately, co-located collaboration is not po..