Apache Maven 3 Cookbook

Chapter 3
Distributed development
Like it or not, it is a globalized world today and has been so for the software industry for at
least two or three decades. Software creative professionals along with professionals of many
other industries find themselves working with distributed cross functional teams. Rather
than going into our shells, this situation can be a great opportunity to work with people
from differing cultural, geographical, and professional backgrounds.
And while diversity is a gift and must be celebrated, it does bring along new challenges
that cannot be swept under the carpet and need to be addressed. One does need to
enforce certain practices that transcend cultural differences and make distributed software
development practical and productive.
You are supposed to work with people half way across the world. They don't speak your
language, they don't share your work culture, and neither do they share your time zone.
To put it mildly, this can be quite a challenge.
Yet if done correctly, it has proven itself to be of great benefit to the business. The key here is,
if done "correctly".
So how does one do it correctly? I suggest keep it simple.
First, speak a common language. Without this, one can't proceed.
Second, have honest communication with positive intent. Human beings, especially those who
speak differing languages, have this great ability to judge the moods of each other. It is not a
secret that over 90 percent of human communication in non-verbal.
If you are negative, that will be the first thing your distributed peers will pick up. This needs
to be stressed, as it is extremely important. Off shoring / outsourcing can be a controversial
subject, but if you are going to work with a distributed team, your intent should be to do your
best, regardless of your political stance on this subject.
How to do it...
While the practices described in other recipes of this chapter are suitable for any team, they
especially resonate and make most sense if implemented for distributed teams.
1. Start with setting up:
Remote source code repository / revision control system
Continuous integration server
Issue tracking systems
Mailing list systems
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