Distributed development and product line decisions

Distributed product development is becoming increasingly prevalent in a number of industries. We study how the global distribution of product development impacts the profit-maximizing product line that a firm offers. Specifically, we formulate a model to understand the linkage between cost arbitrage as a driver of distributed development and consequent market implications such as customer perceived quality loss to remotely developed products. Analysis of the model reveals that a firm should expand the product line for a development-intensive good only at intermediate values of cost advantage and quality loss. We modify the base model to include development capacity constraints as a driver of distributed development and find that the results are robust to this change. Our analysis affirms the need for product managers to incorporate the implications of distributed development in making their product line design decision

The Main and Interaction Effects of Process Rigor, Process Standardization, and Process Agility on System Performance in Distributed IS Development: An Ambidexterity Perspective

Information systems (IS) development is becoming increasingly more geographically dispersed. Although process rigor, process standardization, and process agility are generally believed to have a positive impact on software development, it has not been well understood how these process capabilities affect distributed IS development. More important, no prior research has investigated their interaction effects. Drawing upon prior literature on organizational ambidexterity, we hypothesize: positive main effects of process rigor, process standardization, and process agility; a positive interaction effect of process rigor and process agility; and a positive interaction effect of process standardization and process agility on system performance in distributed development. Our data analysis results support a positive main effect of the three process capabilities. We find a positive interaction effect of process rigor and process agility suggesting positive process ambidexterity of rigor and agility. Surprisingly, we find a negative interaction effect of process agility and process standardization suggesting negative process ambidexterity of agility and standardizatio

The Evolution of Information Systems Offshoring Research: A Past, Present and Future Meta Analysis Review

This research article presents a past, present and future meta analysis of information systems offshoring (ISO) research over the 2000-2010 time period. ISO has emerged as a significant sourcing strategy adopted by many organizations to manage, support and deliver their information system needs. Across the selected academic articles our findings compare research methodologies applied, client vs. vendor perspectives studied and ISO topic areas investigated. Interesting results emerge in the range and evolution of ISO research. As a result of our analysis, our findings clearly indicate areas of need for future ISO researchers to consider when conducting future ISO research

The 24-Hour Knowledge Factory Paradigm: The Evolving Model for Offshoring based on Strategic, Economic, Legal, Health, Technical, and Other Considerations

The 24-Hour Knowledge Factory paradigm involves 3 (or more) collaborating centers, each located in a different continent. Individuals at each center work from 9 am to 5 pm in that country, and then pass the work-in-progress to the next collaborating center to enable round-theclock performance in a manner somewhat akin to the deployment of three shifts in the manufacturing sector. The 24-Hour Knowledge Factory is relevant for structured and semi-structured applications in many knowledge-based industries including accounting, legal, design, and development. There is a growing array of examples from healthcare and other domains where off-site professionals have been able to provide better results than on-site professionals, thereby validating that many tasks can be more effectively performed using the 24-Hour Knowledge Factory approach. The gradual adoption of this paradigm is motivated by several considerations. In 2007, the World Health Organization concluded that working at night is a probable cause of breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men. Attempts by US state governments and even the federal government to discourage outsourcing are unlikely to succeed for multiple reasons, and the notion of “hybrid outsourcing” will gain momentum over time. Plus there are the advantages of developing products and services in a shorter timeframe; furthermore, these products and services can command broader appeal in the global marketplace. A detailed study was conducted at IBM to compare the performance of a co-located team and a distributed team, and the performance of the latter team exceeded initial expectations. The key results from this study will be discussed in this session

UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIO-TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF LOW-CODE ADOPTION FOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

The digital transformation of organizations’ leverages several approaches for creating software applications that meet the requirements of the specific context. Besides well-researched approaches like software development, outsourcing, or customizing commercial software packages, low-code platforms today offer a new approach for creating software. The low-code approach allows to develop software without or with limited actual coding, but by combining executable software components into workflows. While the low-code approach simplifies software development and offers a reduction in effort and time, we lack explanations on why organizations adopt it, and which challenges are associated with this adoption. We, therefore, investigate the adoption of the low-code approach based on the technology-organization-environment framework. We identified ten aspects supporting and six aspects hindering the adoption of the low-code approach. For practice, we propose a model that can assist organizations in determining the adequacy for adopting the low-code approach

Kansainvälinen ohjelmistokehitys : Ongelmat projektinhallinnassa ja hajautetuissa tiimeissä

Globalisaatio on prosessi, joka on jo vuosia vaikuttanut voimakkaasti yhteiskunnan kehitykseen. Ohjelmistokehitys ei tässä trendissä muodosta poikkeusta. Ohjelmistokehityksessä globalisaatio näkyy suunnittelu- ja kehitystyön, etenkin ohjelmistojen toteutuksen ja testauksen, hajautumisena useamman valtion alueelle. Kyse on pienimmillään siitä, että työ suoritetaan eri maassa, kuin mistä se tilataan. Laajimmillaan hajautuksessa työtä suoritetaan useassa eri maassa tai kohteessa. Tässä työssä tarkastellaan teknologisen kehityksen mahdollistamaa kansainvälistä ja hajautettua ohjelmistokehitystä. Kansainvälinen ohjelmistokehitys on lisääntynyt jo vuosia ja tietyillä toimialoilla sen voi ajatella olevan jo alan yleinen normi. Kansainvälisesti hajautetulla ohjelmistokehityksellä saavutetaan monia etuja, mutta siihen liittyy myös vaikeuksia, joita ei aina osata ottaa riittävästi huomioon. Tämän takia hajautettujen ohjelmistokehitysprojektien epäonnistumisprosentti on korkea verrattuna paikallisesti toteutettuihin kehitysprojekteihin. Työn tarkastelun näkökulmana on projektinhallinta kansainvälisessä sovelluskehityksessä sekä hajautettujen tiimien toiminta. Työssä selvitetään, millaisia ongelmia kyseisten projektien hallintaan sekä virtuaalitiimien toimintaan liittyy ja miten ongelmien vaikutuksia voi minimoida tai poistaa. Työ on toteutettu narratiivisena kirjallisuuskatsauksena. Aineiston haussa on käytetty Internetistä löytyviä hakutietokantoja, joista on ollut luontevaa olettaa löytyvän tietojärjestelmätieteeseen liittyviä tutkimuksia ja artikkeleita. Aineistohaku on rajattu englanninkieliseen aineistoon. Hakusanoina tietokannoissa on käytetty kansainväliseen ja hajautettuun sovelluskehitykseen ja virtuaalitiimeihin liittyviä sanoja. Merkittävimpinä hyötyinä ohjelmistokehityksen kansainvälistymisessä nähdään muun muassa siitä saatavat kustannussäästöt sekä mahdollisuus rekrytoida osaavaa työvoimaa. Kansainvälisesti hajautetun ohjelmistokehityksen esteet liittyvät työskentelyn maantieteelliseen, ajalliseen, kulttuurilliseen ja organisatoriseen etäisyyteen. Nämä etäisyydet monimutkaistavat hajautetun tai virtuaalisen tiimiin toimintaa verrattuna paikallisesti työskentelevään tiimiin. Esteisiin on pyrittävä vastaamaan sopeuttamalla käytetyt projektinhallinnan menetelmät hajautettuun työskentelyyn. Erityistä huolta on pidettävä siitä, että hajautetun työryhmän roolit ja sisäinen vastuunjako ovat kaikille ryhmän jäsenille selkeitä. Jos hajautetun työryhmän jäsenet tulevat erilaisilta kielialueilta ja kulttuurisista taustoista, on ryhmän johtamisessa varmistettava, että kaikki osallistujat jakavat yhteisen vision tehtävästä ja kommunikaatio hoidetaan niin, että väärinkäsitykset pystytään minimoimaan. Kansainvälisesti hajautetulla ohjelmistokehityksellä saavutetun kokonaishyödyn laskeminen on vaikeaa, koska osa kustannuksista on piileviä ja sen takia hankalia vertailla saavutettuihin hyötyihin. Kansainvälisellä ohjelmistokehityksellä katsotaan saavutetun merkittäviä hyötyjä, joskin hyödyt ovat monesti tavoiteltuja vaatimattomampia. Työssä tunnistetut ongelmat vastaavat keskeisiä projektinhallinnan yleisiä osa-alueita. Odotetusti hajautettujen tiimien keskeiset vaikeudet liittyivät tiedonvälitykseen ja kommunikointiin

Project leader's dual socialization and its impact on team learning and performance: A diagnostic study

One of the important challenges for leadership in project teams is the ability to manage the knowledge, communication and coordination related activities of team. In cross-team collaboration, different boundaries contribute to the situated nature of knowledge and hamper the flow of knowledge and prevent shared understanding with those on the other side of the boundary. While existing research on the issue has focused on 'what' is needed to overcome these boundaries, there is very little research on 'how' leaders can be equipped to deal with the challenges of cross-boundary work. We propose a new construct: 'dual socialization' of the project leader, as an important means of surmounting challenges of knowledge sharing and collaboration across boundaries. We argue that dual socialization enables a leader to gain a deep contextual understanding of collaborating teams in a manner that is not easily available through other means of learning. This understanding then is invaluable for the knowledge transfer process as well as for achieving project goals. A model of dual socialization, knowledge transfer and project team outcomes (team performance & inter-team coordination) is proposed and tested using data from project teams in a leading global IT consulting firm. We focus on the inter-organizational boundary encountered by the consultants when dealing with the client. The thesis is based on the consulting team's point of view. The data is collected from client-consultant dyads in an engaged in an outsourcing relationship. The results support the importance of dual socialization as a construct for understanding and enhancing leadership capabilities needed in inter-organizational project teams. An important finding of this dissertation is that socialization to home and socialization to client don't always influence outcomes in a similar manner. They act in competing or complementary ways depending on the dependent variable and moderators under consideration. Also socialization to home/client may enhance or detract team performance based on project contingencies. Additionally, we found that prior knowledge of the team enhances the acquisition of knowledge, but detracts from the performance capability of the team. This finding has important implications for issues of team composition and design, as well as utilization of expertise