Challenges and improvements in distributed software development: a systematic review
Advances in Software Engineering
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Distributed team processes are becoming more pervasive because of geographically distributed development and complex Software-Intensive Systems of Systems (SISOS) with many layers of breadth and depth. Software is developed collaboratively in multiple locations around the world, and projects are being contracted out in whole or in part for economic leverage. Systems are becoming larger and more complex, leading to distributed processes at many levels. Projects are often split among distributed teams, where the teams contribute different portions of work per phase to take advantage of their skill sets and rates. Thus there is a need for new parametric cost estimation models where effort multipliers are phase sensitive. Working with industrial partners, a set of constructive cost models have been extended to better estimate distributed teams where work is allocated by phase, rather than just along the lines of specific functionality. The distributed development models allow for work distribution by phase per team (and per module), different environmental characteristics of the teams, localized labor categories, calendars, compensation rates, and currencies for costing. They also use a generalized scheme for user-defined global life-cycle processes that include calibrated effort and schedule distributions. Representative examples show the models being used for global development and SISOS scenarios. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.