The document discusses how to implement location-independent agile teams. It recommends assessing an organization's distribution of expertise, work nature, and agile maturity. Choosing the right agile model like minimally distributed, local, significantly distributed, or fully distributed is important based on an organization's needs. Teams should improve agile capabilities by configuring for time zones, creating a unified culture, and minimizing planning. With the right skills, coaching, and training, distributed agile teams can increase productivity, speed, customer satisfaction, and costs while delivering competitive advantages.

1. How to Make Location-
Independent Agile Work
K. Subramanian
Head—Delivery Excellence
Mohammed Musthafa S.
Head, TCS Agile Initiative Network
June 2018

2. Co-located Agile is Not Mandatory
Co-located agile teams are
helpful but not a necessity in
today’s global business
environment
What is important is to
identify which approach
towards distributed agile
teams works for the projects
and programs
Businesses can deliver
effectively with contributions
from location-independent
agile teams
Agile models are evolving to meet the needs of distributed global businesses.

3. Journey to Agile
Assess the organization’s
distribution of business
expertise, nature of work,
and agile maturity
When implementing location-independent agile teams:
Choose the right agile
working model to meet the
organization’s needs
Improve teams’ agile
capabilities continuously to
gain benefits

4. Assess the Organization’s Needs
Get a clear understanding of the organization’s capabilities:
Level of business expertise
and other skills required
Urgency and volatility of the
work, presence of non-
negotiable constraints, and
need for constant access to
the project owner
Extent to which such
knowledge resides at a
specific location
Maturity of the agile
development processes and
culture among the leadership

5. Choose the Right Agile Model
Use one of these four models to organize agile teams:
Minimally Distributed -
where the product owner and
core team members are co-
located, while the rest of the
team works as another inter-
related team in a different
place
Local - where teams are
new to the business area and
need continuous access the
product owner, or where
regulations require co-
located execution
Significantly Distributed -
where the product owner and
core team members are co-
located, while the rest of the
team resides in multiple
locations
Fully Distributed - where
the product owner may be at
any site and the other team
members are grouped in
agile teams across
distributed locations

6. Improve Agile Capabilities
Configure teams to take
advantage of time-zone
differences
Create a ‘one team’ culture
Minimize planning overheads
Plan the right distribution of
work across locations
Build business knowledge-
oriented teams at distributed
locations
Some simple tips can be applied to improve the success rates of your agile teams.

7. Be Ready to Face Challenges
Transformation to agile can encounter some roadblocks:
Resistance to adapting to
new processes
Shortages of the right skills
Existing enterprise IT
architecture that does not
support agile
Legacy ways of working and
employee attitudes toward
them

8. Overcome the Challenges
Deploy people with the right
skills in the right places
Coach teams beyond
teaching agile techniques to
practicing new roles for
cultural change
Train team members in more
than one skill
Enable hands-on practice to
help employees understand the
benefits of pursuing agile
approaches to their own work
lives
Align multiple agile teams
located in different time zones
Teams that see and understand the benefits will thrive.

9. Productivity improvements
through round-the-clock
execution by distributed agile
teams across time zones
Faster product development
by leveraging the domain
skills of product specialists in
multiple locations Improved end-customer
satisfaction
Agility and reduced IT
operations costs
Reduction in time required to
introduce new products
Reap Benefits from Adopting Agile
Agile will deliver a host of upsides that combine to give you a competitive advantage.

10. Take Advantage of Distributed Agile
Maximize enterprise
productivity, innovation, and
global competitiveness with
organizational agility
Success lies in knowing how
to do it correctly
Know your business
capabilities, needs, and
readiness well to determine
the right location model for
your work
Each organization will need to find a model that suits its individual needs and context.

11. How to Make Location-
Independent Agile Work
Download the Article
Contact Us