Browse Theses

Global software development (GSD) has become a dominant paradigm in the software industry. Almost 100 nations are participating in GSD, expecting to gain benefits including reduction in time-to-market, reduction in development costs, better use of scarce resources, among other benefits. At the same time, GSD poses challenges and difficulties due to geographic dispersion, time-zone differences, as well as cultural and language differences. These challenges often prevent projects from realizing the full potential benefits. Despite these challenges, GSD is expected to continue to be an important strategic option for the software industry. As a result, it is important to understand and identify the issues in this complex situation, and to find ways to improve the development process and thereby gain the full benefits of GSD.

This study developed a methodology—a GSD process simulation model—that integrates and synthesizes relevant research, theories, and models in the GSD context. This model allows researchers to (a) investigate and examine the overall impacts of GSD, (b) test hypotheses, and (c) experiment with new ideas in order to improve the understanding of GSD. From a practical standpoint, the GSD model is designed so that it can be tailored to a specific organization or project in order to support and improve organizational decision-making regarding such management issues as development site selection, task allocation strategy, process improvement, and software quality assurance.

Model verification and validation showed the GSD model to be stable and to produce reasonable results. The GSD model was also applied to a real world project which further increased confidence in the validity of the model and confirmed that the model was ready to be used to investigate real world GSD phenomena.

The most significant contributions of this research include: (1) the GSD model itself—the first software process simulation model to allow researchers and practitioners to examine GSD projects from a systems perspective, (2) a comprehensive list of important GSD factors and their interrelationships pertaining to project performance, (3) suggestions for improving GSD project performance, and (4) conditions necessary for deployment of GSD.