Communication Risks and Best practices in Global Software Development

ABSTRACT
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.