Identifying key success factors for globally distributed software development project using simulation: a case study

  • Authors:

  • Siri-On Setamanit;David Raffo

  • Affiliations:

  • Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand;Portland State University, Portland, OR

  • Venue:
  • ICSP'08 Proceedings of the Software process, 2008 international conference on Making globally distributed software development a success story
  • Year:
  • 2008

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Abstract

With the increased pressure to reduce cost, reduce development time,and improve quality, many software companies are moving toward using aGlobally Distributed Software Development (GSD) paradigm. Due to the challengesand difficulties with GSD, researchers and practitioners are attempting toidentify key success factors for GSD projects. Based on our previous work, wefound that the key success factors can be different depending upon specific projectcharacteristics. To ensure a successful outcome, project managers have tofocus on the right success factors for their particular project. In this paper, weillustrate how a GSD simulation model can be used to represent a specific projectand to identify key success factors for that project. We use a case studyfrom an actual software development firm. We also perform sensitivity analysisto assess the magnitude of the performance impact for the key factors for thespecific project. For the case study site, which uses a combination of phasebasedand module-based task allocation strategies, we found that team memberfamiliarity, frequency of team meetings, and communication frequency eachhave a strong impact on total project effort and duration.