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Balancing the Paradox of Formal and Social Governance in Distributed Agile Development Projects

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Information Systems Development

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Abstract

Distributed agile development (DAD) projects require effective governance mechanisms to address challenges such as coordination, communication, culture, and technology as well as maintaining the agility of the project in order to enhance project outcome. Such effective governance requires having formal and social mechanisms to control as well as facilitate coordination in DAD projects. However, the coexistence of formal and social governance mechanisms in the system raises a paradox that makes applying such governance framework challenging. This study aims to investigate and explore potential benefits and challenges of adopting formal and social governance mechanisms in DAD projects. The scarce literature on real industrial case studies reporting on experiences of using effective governance in DAD projects makes this study to research in companies involve in DAD projects.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Of New south Wales, South Wales, Australia

    Esmeralda Thomson

  2. University Of Hull, Hull, Yorkshire, UK

    Richard Vidgen

Authors
  1. Esmeralda Thomson
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  2. Richard Vidgen
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh Dept. Computer Science, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

    Rob Pooley

  2. Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh Dept. Computer Science, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

    Jennifer Coady

  3. City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR

    Christoph Schneider

  4. Monash University Fac. Information Technology, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

    Henry Linger

  5. National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

    Chris Barry

  6. National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

    Michael Lang

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© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Thomson, E., Vidgen, R. (2013). Balancing the Paradox of Formal and Social Governance in Distributed Agile Development Projects. In: Pooley, R., Coady, J., Schneider, C., Linger, H., Barry, C., Lang, M. (eds) Information Systems Development. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4951-5_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4951-5_13

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-4950-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-4951-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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