Practical experience of virtual team software development

Abstract

Given the current popularity of Global Software Development (GSD) increasing numbers of organisations are taking the opportunity offered to set up virtual software teams. This approach allows companies to partner experienced engineers located in high cost economic areas with less experienced team members based in low cost centres allowing both locations to be leveraged to their best advantage. A number of different approaches are currently being undertaken. Some organisations have set up subsidiaries in low cost economies and are developing virtual teams in this environment. Others are partnering with third party outsourcing organisations. The focus of this research is an Irish based company partnered with an organisation located in the US to develop and maintain bespoke financial software. A number of virtual teams were established, each team had members based in the US and Ireland. Given the locations involved it was initially believed that the organisations were culturally near shore. While that proved correct to a point, it soon became clear that communication, motivation and cultural differences existed and needed to be addressed. It was also realised that a new approach to process development and improvement had to be undertaken to ensure the successful development and operation of these virtual teams. Both organisations had good single site development and maintenance processes, but they proved inadequate for a multi-site GSD environment and needed to be extensively reengineered. Initially mistakes were made and areas of conflict arose. Rather than view these events as negative, each was leveraged to insure that the process was improved to address and minimise any reoccurrence. As a result over a four-year period a very successful common virtual team development process evolved between both organisations. This paper outlines some of the key problem areas encountered and offers practical advice and experience on how they were successfully addressed. Given the importance of GSD to the software industry this experience should be of value to anyone interested in outsourcing and virtual team software development and maintenance