Global Software Teams

1
Global Software Teams

• Crossing Boarders
• The spread of development activities to newly
  industrialized, emerging, and developing nations
  e.g. India
• The transition of software development away from
  the traditional centralized, co-located form of
  development to a form in which global software
  terms collaborate across national boundaries,
  working on the same software project or product
  or system.
• A global Software Team - is separated by a
  national boundary while actively collaborating on
  a common software/system project

2
Why Global Software Teams?

• Catalyst Factors
• Sustaining factors
• Size Factors
• Vision Factors

3
Why Global Software Teams

• Catalyst factors
• Specialized Talents
• Deployment of specialized talents anywhere in the
  world
• 845,000 current vacancies Source ITAA 2000
  study
• Demand for 1.6 million technology jobs in 2000
• Only fill 800,000 Source ITAA 2000 study
• 10 of IT jobs are currently unfilled (878 CIOs)
• Source Computer Technology Industry Association
• 4.5 billion in lost employee productivity
• Source Computer Technology Industry Association
• Entire economic output reduced by 105.5 Billion
  Source Computer Technology Industry
  Association

4
Why Global Software Teams

• Catalyst factors
• Acquisitions
• Expanding product families through acquisitions
• In 1997, of the software 500 companies 27
  acquire a company, or a product line or merged
  with another company. A 30 increase over the
  previous year.
• Like in other business the road to survival is
  growth
• Global mega-mergers in (pharmaceuticals,
  chemicals, aerospace, telecom, and automobiles)
• Example Baan (US, Canada, Spain, Britain, etc)
• As a result of this global acquisition, software
  teams thousands of miles apart are suddenly
  forced to collaborate and coordinate, sometimes
  rather reluctantly.

5
Why Global Software Teams

• Catalyst Factors
• Reduction in Development Cost
• Software companies in high-wage nations are
  seeking low-cost programming cost
• Just like many types of manufacturing shifted
  from high-wage countries, such as Japan and US,
  to low-wage countries like China and Mexico.
• India, Philippines, Russia, China and the Baltic
  countries
• Due to the hot market, software professionals in
  advanced industrial countries are drawn to the
  more interesting and glamorous jobs, while
  developers in emerging countries are willing to
  do the less exciting tasks such as maintenance,
  porting, testing, and Y2K re-engineering

6
Why Global Software Teams

• Software Developer Salaries (U.S. per month)
• India 490
• Philippines 547
• China 746
• Malaysia 864
• Thailand 927
• Taiwan 2,058
• Singapore 2,792
• Hong Kong 3,774
• Japan 4,708
• U.S. 5,250
• Data from Watson Wyatt, worlds biggest pay and
  benefits consulting company

7
Why Global Software Teams

• Catalyst Factors
• Global Presence
• Strategically, software companies need to
  position their organization as global firm that
  is, to signal to the world, we are a global
  player.
• Global business
• Global consumers
• Coca-cola and McDonald Syndrome.
• This usually done via bona fide product
  development centers in various significant
  countries,
• Result software development are driven outside
  the national boundary or home country.

8
Why Global Software Teams

• Catalyst Factors
• Reduction in time-to-market
• Given time zone differences the ideal dispersed
  project can be productive around-the-clock.
• Following the sun or Round-the-clock development
  has the potential to collapse time-to-market for
  projects completion.
• But not always a primary factor for globalization
• Proximity to the customer
• Staying close to the customer,very important for
  requirement gathering and design

9
Why Global Software Teams

• Catalyst Factors
• Proximity to the customer
• The maxim of the best corporations, the best
  salesperson, and the best designers is to stay
  close to the customer.
• Hence software companies need to set up sites
  near their customers wherever they may be.
• Staying close to the customer,very important for
  requirement gathering and design where rich
  communication and relationships are needed
  between customers and developers.
• Also proximity to hotbeds of new high-tech
  activity and innovation, such as silicon Valley.

10
Why Global Software Teams

• Sustaining Factors
• Development Rigor
• Co-located software development teams rely on
  informal mechanisms and less on the discipline of
  formalized development methodologies and quality
  practices.
• In contrast, distance promotes formalisms.
• One of the reasons why many India based software
  companies have obtained level CMM and the ISO
  certifications.

11
Why Global Software Teams

• Sustaining Factors
• Internal Freshness
• Diversity brings new creativity and inspirational
  to software development.
• Distance from Distractions
• Distance units are far from the numerous
  distractions of headquarters.
• Santas little helpers
• Sometimes results in high level of loyalty

12
Why Global Software Teams

• Sustaining Factors
• Professional Cadre of software globalizes
• The raise of global management
• Experience
• Experience and specialized knowledge that are
  built up within the distance sites
• With time remote location may posses specialized
  skills and knowledge not available at
  headquarters
• Naturally the parent want to keep the knowledge
  and continue to gaining the return on their
  initial investments in training and developing
  the sites

13
Why Global Software Teams

• Size Factors
• Scale
• At some point co-located software development
  centers become too large and difficult to manage
  examples include
• SAP US, Japan
• Microsoft Britain, India, and Israel
• Evolving Synergies of Scale
• Scale bring about opportunity for global
  collaboration that are unanticipated.
• Complementary products between disperse teams,
  etc.

14
Why Global Software Teams

• Vision Factors
• The software industry is both shaping and being
  shaped by dominant vision of our future society.
• Technological visions
• Organizational visions

15
Why Global Software Teams

• Visions
• Technological Vision (Location Transparency)
• Location transparency is the capability to work
  with another colleague or group as if you were
  all in the same room. Either you a one floor, one
  building or one continent apart.
• Collaborative technologies make this possible
• Internet, video- and audio conferencing, etc.
• The advances in telecommunications has made this
  possible

16
Why Global Software Teams

• Vision
• Virtual organization and Virtual team
• Virtual organizations is a form of networked
  organization.
• Created by distributing work and contracting out
  work that was once done inside the the
  organization to form a network of independent
  companies operating together as if it were a
  single organization.
• They are geographically dispersed and more
  flexible in nature.
• Virtual organizations are glued together by a
  network of computer systems
• They form alliance and joint ventures

17
Virtual Organization Structure
18
Why Global Software Teams

• Traditional Teams
• Co-located members
• Face-to-face interaction
• Members from same organization
• Hierarchical
• Mostly informal communication
• Position authority
• Information on paper
• Sharing completed work
• Knowledge hoarding
• Transparent process
• Culture learned through osmosis

• Virtual Teams
• Distributed members
• Electronic communication
• Members from different organization
• Networked
• Continuous structured communication
• Process and knowledge authority
• Information electronic
• Continuous sharing of incomplete work
• Knowledge sharing
• Computer-visible process
• Culture learned through electronic-based
  communication and artifacts

Characteristic of Teams Yesterday and Today
19
Global Software Teams

• What is the future of global software Teams?

20
Global Software Teams

• Future of Globally Dispersed Software Teams
• Global spending on all facets of IT is estimated
  at several trillion dollars?
• Global package software industry generates 100
  billion and grew between 250-500 in the decade
  of 1985-1995
• In house development IT application development
  projects in the US was estimated at 175,000
• Industrialized countries will not continue to
  open the door to massive immigration so the
  excess IT labor force will most likely stay
  where it is currently located
• The labor pools will continue to seek good pay
  and fulfilling jobs that comes from abroad via
  global software teams
• Near-shore development sites

21
Global Software Teams

• Future
• Attractive location
• Government incentives
• To reduce brain-drain thereby support the
  development of telecom infrastructures
• Tax benefits to high-technological companies
• The future nature of software application
• Components based
• Terrorists impact