Communication Risks and Best practices in Global Software Development

• Main Authors: Iqbal, Ajmal, Abbas, Syed Shahid
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sektionen för datavetenskap och kommunikation 2011
• Subjects: Communication; Global Software Development; Global Software Engineering; Recommendation; Systematic Literature Review; Distributed software development; Computer Sciences; Datavetenskap (datalogi); Software Engineering; Programvaruteknik
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-5090

Context. Global Software Development (GSD) or Global Software Engineering (GSE) is defined as the plan of action in which the software development is performed under various boundaries, such as temporal, political, organizational and cultural [1,2] . The projects developed in globally distributed environment are containing more risks than projects developed in collocated environment because of different challenges such as temporal, geographical and socio-cultural distances [67]. In this thesis communication risks have been discussed along with their causes and effects that hinder the effectiveness of GSD projects. Moreover mitigation practices to resolve communication risks and their negative impacts are also discussed. Objectives. The study describes the identification of communication risks, their causes, effects and the practices to mitigate the risks from both literature and industrial perspectives. Some recommendations has also been discussed on the basis of these resulted communication risks and their mitigation practices. Methods. Detailed systematic literature review in order to collect the data from relevant empirical studies with respect to our scope has been conducted in the first phase. Studies were selected from various Electronic Data Sources (EDS) such as IEEE Xplore (IEEE), ACM Digital Library (ACM), Inspec (IS), Compendex (CD), ISI Web of Science (WoS), Cite Seer (CS), Google Scholar (GS), Science Direct (SD), Springer Link (SL), Wiley Inter Science (WIS), and Business Source Premier (BSP). In second phase 22 industrial interviews were conducted from 13 different multinational organizations. In third phase data analysis has been made based on the analysis of ground theory. On the basis of the codes of grounded theory, comparative analysis has been performed between literature and industrial settings. At the end of the thesis some recommendations has been provided in order to resolve communication risks in GSD. Results. As a result of systematic literature review 44 risks, 44 causes, 38 effects and 63 practices have been identified in GSD with respect to communication. 27 risks, 22 causes, 19 effects and 39 mitigation practices were identified from the industrial interviews. These risks, causes, effects and practices are not only described in this thesis but also mapped in relation to each other. At the end in comparative analysis the combined risks, causes, effects and practices were identified in tabular form. In total 47 risks, 45 causes, 39 effects and 65 mitigation practices were identified through this work. Conclusions. Communication plays a fundamental role in achieving the best practices in Global Software Engineering. This study points out the salient risks and limitations that hamper the process of smooth communication in geographically dispersed teams. The causes and effects of the mentioned risks are discussed in detail and a set of recommendations is provided to cope with those risks and to minimize their effect. The resultant set of recommendations is based on the best suitable practices which shall be followed by globally distributed organizations to achieve a fully communicated environment just like an in-house development setting. === 0046760622684