Definition:
Members of the same development team that are located at the same physical location where face-to-face collaboration among the team members is possible and practiced. A Collocated team is just a nice way of saying non-collocated. Individuals are dispersed around the globe and they rely on collaborative software, email, and telephones to communicate and work together.
Collocated teams do bring some real benefits to a project:
- Project managers can use people from all around the world to participate in the project.
- Project managers can use experts from other parts of the world that may not be local to where the project is being hosted.
- Project team members can work from home.
- Project team members don’t all have to work the same hours to complete their project assignments.
- Organizations can use people with mobility handicaps.
- Organizations can realize a cost savings by reducing travel expenses.
- Software and the internet make working remotely easier for everyone.
Further Reading:
Book: Agile Software Development by Alistair Cockburn
