Virtual Project Management Of Globally Outsourced IT Projects

The existing literature on how globally outsourced information technology (IT) projects are reliant on technology for virtual project management was extended by presenting a new framework for virtual project management and analyzing the current internet-based collaborative tools that facilitate their effectiveness. This assertion derives from an effort to answer the following research question: How are globally outsourced IT projects reliant on technology for virtual project management

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

Control, Process Facilitation, and Requirements Change in Offshore Requirements Analysis: The Provider Perspective

Process, technology, and project factors have been increasingly driving organizations to offshore early software development phases, such as requirements analysis. This emerging trend necessitates greater control and process facilitation between client and vendor sites. The effectiveness of control and facilitation has, however, not been examined within the context of requirements analysis and change. In this study, we examine the role of control and facilitation in managing changing requirements and on success of requirements gathering in the Indian offshore software development environment. Firms found that control by client-site coordinators had a positive impact on requirements analysis success while vender site-coordinators did not have similar influence. Process facilitation by client site-coordinators affected requirements phase success indirectly through control. The study concludes with recommendations for research and practice

Project Quality of Offshore Virtual Teams Engaged in Software Requirements Analysis: An Exploratory Comparative Study

The off-shore software development companies in countries such as India use a global delivery model in which initial requirement analysis phase of software projects get executed at client locations to leverage frequent and deep interaction between user and developer teams. Subsequent phases such as design, coding and testing are completed at off-shore locations. Emerging trends indicate an increasing interest in off-shoring even requirements analysis phase using computer mediated communication. We conducted an exploratory research study involving students from Management Development Institute (MDI), India and Marquette University (MU), USA to determine quality of such off-shored requirements analysis projects. Our findings suggest that project quality of teams engaged in pure off-shore mode is comparable to that of teams engaged in collocated mode. However, the effect of controls such as user project monitoring on the quality of off-shored projects needs to be studied further

The Global Networked Value Circle: A new model for best-in-class manufacturing

As companies face deflation, slowing production and declining prices, they will need to assess their entire value chain as they look for ways to keep costs low and improve efficiencies while continuing to innovate. To help address this challenge, this report reflects fresh research undertaken by Capgemini in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh into the ?Best-in-Class Global Manufacturing Value Chain?

Contextual factors, knowledge processes and performance in global sourcing of IT services: An investigation in China

Copyright @ 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Reuse of this article has been approved by the publisher.In this paper, the authors explore the influences of two major contextual factors—supplier team members’ cultural understanding and trust relationship—on knowledge processes and performance in global sourcing of IT services. The authors discuss a joint investigation conducted by a cross-cultural research team in China. Cultural understanding is measured by individualism with guanxi and mianzi, two Chinese cultural concepts, and trust relationship is measured by adjusting trust, a notion reflecting the uniqueness of the Chinese people. Knowledge processes are characterized by knowledge sharing. Performance is measured by the outcomes of global sourcing, which is represented by product success and personal satisfaction. Data are collected in 13 companies in Xi’an Software Park, with 200 structured questionnaires distributed to knowledge workers. The results of quantitative data analysis indicate that cultural understanding influences trust relationship greatly, as well as knowledge sharing and performance in global sourcing of IT services. Trust relationship significantly impacts knowledge sharing, whereas trust relationship and knowledge sharing have no impact on performance. This study suggests that special aspects of the Chinese context have significant direct impacts on knowledge processes while no direct and immediate impacts on performance in global sourcing of IT services.National Natural Science Foundation of China, Program for Humanity and Social Science Research, Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University in China and Brunel University's Research Development Fund

Beyond the border: A comparative literature review on communication practices for agile global outsourced software development projects

Software development is increasingly heading in the direction of combining agile software development practices and outsourcingsoftware development to external vendors worldwide. The resultingagile global outsourced software development (AGOSD) projects are characterized by applying agile methods to distributed environments, whichresults in several problems for collaboration and coordination. Specifically, communication between the project participantshas been found to be a major challenge in distributed environment. Therefore, our study investigates the problem of improving communication in distributed settings by identifying suitable communication practicesfor usage within AGOSD projects.Based on an extensive literature review,our study (1) provides an overview of adequate practices for usage in AGOSD and (2) points out differences to traditional communication practices ofagile software development(ASD)projects used in collocated, non-distributed environments

Cultural capital of IT developers in Ukraine: exploratory case study

Article focuses on the analysis of approaches to studying cultural capital of IT developers. Exploratory case study refers to the IT developers’ activity and focuses the cultural capital (CC) of the Ukrainian IT sector. Theoretical foundation of the study is based on the cultural capital theory referring to the value of social relations and networks. Research results demonstrate that Ukrainian IT developers accumulate CC through education: individual, in family, at school and with peers. Cultural capital could be transformed into other forms of capital: economic and social ones