I’m currently working on a distributed Agile team. We are located in Massachusetts, Utah, and Michigan. I’ve also been doing research into this area as part of an upcoming book.

The most important point I took away from your paper is to make sure you have at least three to four hours of real-time communication with your team. This has especially been an issue when working with teams in India. Waiting 24 hours for a response to every inquiry is a tough way to work.

I would also add the use of IRC. You already mention instant messages in your paper, but IRC is different. IRC connects your team in a way that IM does not. This is a lesson the open source community has learned well.