2.1. Introduction

To provide the context for this book, it is important to have a clear view of the current challenges faced in enterprise software delivery. To enable this view, I take a specific enterprise software delivery organization and describe how it executed a particular enterprise software delivery project. After discussing the project’s critical elements, I analyze where and how improvements to that project are possible.

While many facets of this real-world enterprise software delivery project are of interest, I choose to highlight four areas that amplify key themes I will address in detail throughout the book:

• Collaboration across distributed teams, particularly when those teams span geographic, organizational, and company boundaries. In such projects, we frequently find that inefficiencies and misunderstandings are a major source of errors, frustration, and waste. Clear approaches to communication and coordination greatly improve the team’s performance.