I work in a company where multiple teams each work on different parts of a software product in a vaguely agile/scrum manner. Mostly the organisation works well but there have been instances where a team may make a change without realising its impact on other teams.
Where dependence is known communication has been good, and where dependence is suspected then 'broadcast' emails and informal conversations have also worked well. But there exists a sub-set of tasks that fall between the cracks. Broadcast emails are likely not the solution as they would become too numerous such that the email signal/noise ratio would fall.
I'm contemplating a solution that involves a sort of map of the software, which details all of the various parts of the system and loosely tries to place interacting and dependent parts near to each other. Each developer then updates their position on the map (today I'm working on X and Y), and therefore if two or more developers happen to be co-located (or proximate) on the map then we can see this each day and this could form the trigger for further discussion on possible overlap and conflict.
Is such a method out there and in use? If so what is it and does it work? Otherwise, do you think such a scheme has merit?
