The geography of coordination

Geographically distributed development creates new questions about how to coordinate multi-site work. In this paper, we present four methods product development organizations used to coordinate their work: functional areas of expertise, product structure, process steps, and customization. We describe the benefits and difficulties with each model. Finally, we discuss two difficulties that occur irrespective of the model used: consequences of unequal distribution of project mass, and finding expertise.

# Software Engineering Techniques and Practices # Computer Science # Product Development and Customization # Business, Management and Accounting # Team Dynamics and Performance # Psychology

Rebecca E. Grinter, James D. Herbsleb, Dewayne E. Perry (1999). "The geography of coordination". International ACM SIGGROUP Conference on Supporting Group Work (GROUP). https://doi.org/10.1145/320297.320333