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Distributed Teams — Which Approach?

publish date: 2026/06/04 04:42:32.798543 UTC

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If part of the development is being outsourced or the development team is distributed, which approach is likely more appropriate and why?

Plan-driven — because distributed or outsourced teams need design documents to communicate across teams, and planning in advance for these documents is necessary

Either — team distribution has no impact on process choice

Agile — because informal communication works well across distributed teams

Agile — because daily stand-up meetings can be held online

Correct Answer

Plan-driven — because distributed or outsourced teams need design documents to communicate across teams, and planning in advance for these documents is necessary

Explanation

If the development team is distributed or part of the development is outsourced, you may need to develop design documents to communicate across teams and plan in advance what these are. This favours a plan-driven approach. Agile methods rely on informal communication which works best with co-located teams.

Reference

Software Engineering, Ian Sommerville, 9th edition

Quizzes you can take where this question appears

Plan-driven and Agile Development