The objective of the study was to generate a ‘theory’/ ‘hypothesis’  on the important factors to focus on in implementing agile project methods in globally distributed teams. Using the grounded theory method, five key categories emerged from the so-called theoretical sampling, which entails the joint collection of data, coding and analysis. The study involved 33 individuals in four different companies, three in the Philippines and one in Sweden. The data collected for this thesis consisted of individual interviews in the Philippines and Sweden (Sept-Dec 2014), focus group sessions, observations of formal agile practices and experiences in the substantive area, conducted in the Philippines during the period Sept-Nov 2014.  The following five key categories emerged as the main concerns of the individuals involved in implementing agile project methods in globally distributed teams in software development projects:  (i) Working Communication, (ii)  Self-organizing Teams, (iii) People-centric organization, (iv) Continuous Learning and (v) Sustaining Infrastructure.  The respondents meant that these concerns should be addressed and resolved in such a way that the implementation of Agile project methods would resemble the case of a collocated Agile project team. The key categories, their fundamental characteristics and the subconcepts behind them were presented and analyzed in relation to the empirical data.The analysis included reported incidents and direct citations from the respondents, focus groups and from observations during the field study, in order to shed light on the process used to arrive to the categories, as well as explain the characteristics of the concepts in the emerging ‘grounded hypothesis’.

<p>The traditional view of project management is beingchallenged by the globalization of markets, mergers ofinternational companies, and the integration of managerial andbusi-ness processes in global corporations. The development ofInformation Technology and the rapid growth of the Internet hascreated an opportunity to utilize global resources, resultingin new and unique problems within project management researchthat need to be addressed.</p><p>This thesis focuses on problems in project managementexperienced by global system suppliers trying to adapt theirbusinesses to the rapid changes of customers needs. Itespe-cially focuses on geographically dispersed organizationsconsisting of several organizations in different countries,with disparate history and corporate culture, developing anddeliver-ing complex systems under the company's name.</p><p>In order to identify potential problems faced by globalmulti-organizational companies, especially system supplierswith large research and development (R&D) budgets, aframe-work is suggested. This framework divides the problemsinto three categories: geographi-cal, organizational andcultural. The problems identified in the case studies are thenclassi-fied to these categories. Finally, a description of howthe identified problems can be man-aged is provided when themost important success factors identified in the studies arepresented.</p><p> </p> / QC 20100512

The traditional view of project management is beingchallenged by the globalization of markets, mergers ofinternational companies, and the integration of managerial andbusi-ness processes in global corporations. The development ofInformation Technology and the rapid growth of the Internet hascreated an opportunity to utilize global resources, resultingin new and unique problems within project management researchthat need to be addressed. This thesis focuses on problems in project managementexperienced by global system suppliers trying to adapt theirbusinesses to the rapid changes of customers needs. Itespe-cially focuses on geographically dispersed organizationsconsisting of several organizations in different countries,with disparate history and corporate culture, developing anddeliver-ing complex systems under the company's name. In order to identify potential problems faced by globalmulti-organizational companies, especially system supplierswith large research and development (R&amp;D) budgets, aframe-work is suggested. This framework divides the problemsinto three categories: geographi-cal, organizational andcultural. The problems identified in the case studies are thenclassi-fied to these categories. Finally, a description of howthe identified problems can be man-aged is provided when themost important success factors identified in the studies arepresented. / QC 20100512