Managing global software development teams : technology and policy proposals for knowledge sharing

This thesis uses an in-depth case study, with integrated data analysis, to compare and contrast globally distributed and co-located software teams within the IBM Corporation. Important differences in information sharing, collaboration and other behaviors were observed, along with a range of innovations in work operations. Technology and policy implications that draw on the benefits of each model are identified. The development of this thesis began with a seminar that was conducted at MIT to invite stakeholders in various areas of knowledge-based offshore outsourcing to discuss strategic, economic, organizational and technical issues raised in various environments. Large and small firms, various industries, and various business models were covered. The context provided by these stakeholders was used to design an in-depth case study at IBM, with the focus on a matched pair of software teams, which were studied for a period of one year. Both software teams were identical in aspects such as product scope, team size and domain; however, they differed in the key aspect that one team's members all work on the same hallway while the other team's members are geographically dispersed among multiple locations in the United States and India Quantitative technical data from the source control system of each team, the software problem report database, frequency and content of group emails, weekly meetings, and individual interviews were combined with qualitative data from stakeholder interviews to distinguish key benefits and challenges of each model. The quantitative measures gauged data such as frequency and methods of collaboration, social and technical networks, and differences in handling strategic and tactical decisions.