Exploring collaboration patterns among global software development teams.

This study examines communication behaviors in global software student teams. The authors of the paper characterize the types of communication behaviors that occur when student teams are engaged in a software development project. The authors present findings from a one-semester study that examined factors contributing to successful distributed programming interactions among students enrolled at the University of Atilim (Turkey), Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá, University of North Texas, and Middlesex University (UK). Using content and cluster analyses techniques, we identified distinct patterns of collaboration and examined how these patterns were associated with task, culture, GPA, and performance of collaborative teams. Our results suggest that communication patterns among global software learners may be related to task type, culture and GPA. It is hoped that these findings will lead to the development of new strategies for improving communication among global software teams

Dynamics of collaborative work in global software development environment.

This study aims to explore the dynamics of collaborative work in global software development projects. The study explored the nature of collaboration, the patterns of collaborative behaviors in different tasks in computer science, and the impact of the tasks to the collaboration among students. Four different collaborative software development tasks were assigned to the globally distributes teams. The study used data from 230 students from five universities, namely Atilim University (Turkey), Middle East Technical University (Turkey), Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá (Panama), University of North Texas (US), and Middlesex University (UK). The findings involve the recommendations for building effective collaborative working environments and guidelines for building collaborative virtual communities

Global Software Development Project

Global software development has become a common reality with the advent of off-shore development and the need to be close to markets. This type of development has posed some challenges faced by software development personals. In this research, we report a software development project that involves the collaboration of students from USA and China

Imparting Global Software Development Experience Via an IT Project Management Course: Critical Success Factors

The rapid trend towards global sourcing of software development has put increased pressure upon U.S. educational institutions in order to provide such experience and relevant skill sets to their students. This presentation describes one such initiative between a Marquette University and Management Development Institute aimed at providing experience in global software development to their students. For others interested in undertaking such initiatives, this paper discusses some dos and dont’s

Bringing Global Sourcing into The Classroom: Experiential Learning Via a Global Software Development Project

The growing trend in offshore software development has imposed new skills requirements on collaborating global partners. In the U.S. this has translated into skill sets that include communications, project management, business analysis, and team management. In a virtual setting, these skills take on a complex proportion. This paper describes an educational initiative in offshore software development between undergraduate students enrolled in a project management course at Marquette University, USA and graduate business students enrolled in an Information Systems Analysis and Design course at Management Development Institute, India. The course replicated an offshore client/vendor relationship in a virtual setting. For faculty considering such initiatives, this paper describes the setting and factors critical to success of this initiative and cautions against others that can be detrimental to such an effort

Crossing the Communication Barrier in Global Software Development Projects via Global Software Development Brokers

As the key stakeholders in Global Software Development (GSD) projects are distributed across geographical locations, many GSD projects suffer from a communication barrier, which exists due to language-, cultural-, time zone (and possibly other) differences among key stakeholders. This barrier not only increases communication cost, it also decreases the efficiency and quality of stakeholder communication, adding extra risks to these projects, and decreasing the probability of success. So far, there is no simple solution to this problem. Using the Collaborative Networks paradigm, this paper introduces the concept of ‘Global Software Development Collaborative Network’ (GSD-CN) as a formal model to analyse communication cost and quality. The paper proposes a new entity (role) called Global Software Development Broker (GSDB). We argue and demonstrate in an example that the proposed GSDBs will (a) simplify the network structure, (b) decrease communication cost, and (c) improve communication quality – consequently increasing the probability of success of GSD projects

Flexible Global Software Development (GSD): Antecedents of Success in Requirements Analysis

Globalization of software development has resulted in a rapid shift away from the traditional collocated, on-site development model, to the offshoring model. Emerging trends indicate an increasing interest in offshoring even in early phases like requirements analysis. Additionally, the flexibility offered by the agile development approach makes it attractive for adaptation in globally distributed software work. A question of significance then is what impacts the success of offshoring earlier phases, like requirements analysis, in a flexible and globally distributed environment? This article incorporates the stance of control theory to posit a research model that examines antecedent factors such as requirements change, facilitation by vendor and client site-coordinators, control, and computer-mediated communication. The impact of these factors on success of requirements analysis projects in a “flexible” global setting is tested using two quasi-experiments involving students from Management Development Institute, India and Marquette University, USA. Results indicate that formal modes of control significantly influence project success during requirements analysis. Further, facilitation by both client and vendor site coordinators positively impacts requirements analysis success

Quality Issues in Global Software Development

The most advantageous features of Global Software Development (GSD) are its cost saving benefits and the easily availability of resources. Also the technological advancement especially in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) makes GSD a common practice in software industry. But GSD is also facing a lot of challenges. Maintaining quality in software development processes and products in GSD environments is one of the major challenges. This paper presents a survey on the challenges and factors which impact on the quality of the\ud products in GSD environments. This report identifies that most of the factors which affect the quality of software product appear as part of two major challenges: requirements and coordination. We further demonstrate that how these two challenges are affected by several factors. Finally, we present the possible solution to reduce the complexity of those various factors