What motivates software engineers working in global software development?

Sarah Beecham, John Noll

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Context: Working in a distributed environment poses new challenges to software engineer motivation. Problem: Where should global project managers focus their efforts so that they have the best chance of motivating their teams, for higher staff retention, increased productivity and improved software quality? Method: We asked a group of software engineers attending a workshop on global collaboration to complete a survey on software engineer motivation. We then identified motivation themes in the responses. Finally, we mapped these themes to software engineer motivators identified in previous research. Results: Thirteen participants completed the survey. Analysis of the results yielded 27 motivation categories. The vast majority (23 of 27) were partially or wholly mapped to Intrinsic motivators. Implications: We conclude that Global Software Development projects that relegate some teams to performing routine tasks (such as maintenance or testing) will experience lower productivity and quality due to demotivation. Finally, we hypothesize that GSD introduces new motivators, such as opportunities to travel and interact with different cultures.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProduct-Focused Software Process Improvement - 16th International Conference, PROFES 2015, Proceedings
EditorsMarkku Oivo, Pekka Abrahamsson, Luis Corral, Barbara Russo
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Pages193-209
Number of pages17
ISBN (Print)9783319268439
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015
Event16th International Conference on Product-Focused Software Process Improvement, PROFES 2015 - Bolzano, Italy
Duration: 2 Dec 20154 Dec 2015

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume9459
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference16th International Conference on Product-Focused Software Process Improvement, PROFES 2015
Country/TerritoryItaly
CityBolzano
Period2/12/154/12/15

Keywords

  • Empirical software engineering
  • GSD
  • Global software development
  • Motivation
  • Software engineer

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