TY - JOUR
T1 - Benefits of global software development
T2 - Exploring the unexplored
AU - Conchúir, Eoin Ó
AU - Olsson, Helena Holmström
AU - Ågerfalk, Pär J.
AU - Fitzgerald, Brian
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Organizations are increasingly moving to the global software development (GSD) model because of significant benefits that can accrue. However, GSD is fraught with challenges arising from geographical, temporal and socio-cultural distances. The emphasis in the literature to date has typically been on how to overcome the challenges associated with GSD. While a number of GSD benefits have been widely referred to in the literature, there are also a number of less obvious benefits that can be inferred as potentially accruing from GSD. In this article, we identify the various benefits of GSD, labeling them as 'referred' and 'inferred', respectively. We provide a categorization in terms of (a) organizational, (b) team and (c) process/task. While the 'referred' benefits most often apply at the organizational level (e.g. cost savings, access to large multi-skilled workforces, reduced time to market and proximity to customer), the 'inferred' benefits apply to a greater extent at team and process/task level (e.g. task modularization, team autonomy, improved documentation and clearly defined processes). In the decision of whether or not to globalize software development activities, a categorization including both 'referred' and 'inferred' benefits will be helpful in providing a synthesis of all potential benefits associated with GSD.
AB - Organizations are increasingly moving to the global software development (GSD) model because of significant benefits that can accrue. However, GSD is fraught with challenges arising from geographical, temporal and socio-cultural distances. The emphasis in the literature to date has typically been on how to overcome the challenges associated with GSD. While a number of GSD benefits have been widely referred to in the literature, there are also a number of less obvious benefits that can be inferred as potentially accruing from GSD. In this article, we identify the various benefits of GSD, labeling them as 'referred' and 'inferred', respectively. We provide a categorization in terms of (a) organizational, (b) team and (c) process/task. While the 'referred' benefits most often apply at the organizational level (e.g. cost savings, access to large multi-skilled workforces, reduced time to market and proximity to customer), the 'inferred' benefits apply to a greater extent at team and process/task level (e.g. task modularization, team autonomy, improved documentation and clearly defined processes). In the decision of whether or not to globalize software development activities, a categorization including both 'referred' and 'inferred' benefits will be helpful in providing a synthesis of all potential benefits associated with GSD.
KW - Benefits
KW - Challenges
KW - Global software development
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=68349158012&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/spip.417
DO - 10.1002/spip.417
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:68349158012
SN - 1077-4866
VL - 14
SP - 201
EP - 212
JO - Software Process Improvement and Practice
JF - Software Process Improvement and Practice
IS - 4
ER -