Showing papers presented at "International Conference on Global Software Engineering in 2016"

Scaling Scrum in a Large Globally Distributed Organization: A Case Study

Abstract: We present a case study on scaling Scrum in a large globally distributed software development project at Nokia, a global telecommunications company. We discuss how the case project scaled Scrum while growing from two collocated Scrum teams to 20 teams located in four countries and employing a total of 170 persons. Moreover, we report scaling challenges the case project faced during this 2,5 year journey. We gathered data by 19 semi-structured interviews of project personnel from two sites, interviewees comprising different roles including managers, architects, product owners, developers and testers. The project was highly successful from the business point of view, as agile enabled fast response to customer requirements. However, the project faced significant challenges in scaling Scrum despite attempts at applying the Large-scale Scrum (LeSS) framework. The organization experimented with different ways of implementing scaling practices like implementing common sprint planning meetings, Scrum-of-Scrums meetings, common demos and common retrospectives, as well as scaling the Product Owner role. We conclude the paper by reflecting on the scaling approach used in the case organization in contrast to the LeSS framework.

Global Software Engineering: Evolution and Trends

Abstract: Professional software products and IT systems and services today are developed mostly by globally distributed teams, projects, and companies. Successfully orchestrating Global Software Engineering (GSE) has become the major success factor both for organizations and practitioners. Yet, more than a half of all distributed projects does not achieve the intended objectives and is canceled. This paper summarizes experiences from academia and industry in a way to facilitate knowledge and technology transfer. It is based on an evaluation of 10 years of research, and industry collaboration and experience reported at the IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering (ICGSE) series. The outcomes of our analysis show GSE as a field highly attached to industry and, thus, a considerable share of ICGSE papers address the transfer of Software Engineering concepts and solutions to the global stage. We found collaboration and teams, processes and organization, sourcing and supplier management, and success factors to be the topics gaining the most interest of researchers and practitioners. Beyond the analysis of the past conferences, we also look at current trends in GSE to motivate further research and industrial collaboration.

Communication Challenges and Strategies in Distributed DevOps

Abstract: Even though agile actively seeks collaboration from all its stakeholders, most agile projects do not extend themselves toward the operations people. To solve this problem, DevOps is introduced. DevOps is a conceptual framework for reintegrating development and operations of Information Systems, which is able to break the wall between developers and operations professionals. DevOps improves the work through a collection of principles and practices, centered around close collaboration between Development and Operations personnel. However, both sides have paid little attention to issues faced by each other. Communication gaps is a recurrent problem in agile teams that is also eminent in the relationship between developers and operations. Literature offers little research on this aspect of communication in DevOps. This position paper describes the communication practices from a distributed agile team composed of developers and operations based on communication challenges (geographical, socio-cultural, and temporal distance) and strategies (frequency, direction, modality, and content). From the results we outline possible research focus for future work, aiming to enrich the academia research on the matter as well as to help practitioners to improve their working practices.

Dynamics of Software Development Crowdsourcing

Abstract: The emergence of online labor markets has concentrated a lot of attention on the prospect of using crowdsourcing for software development, with a potential to reduce costs, improve time-to-market, and access high-quality skills on demand. However, crowdsourcing of software development is still not widely adopted. A key barrier to adoption is a lack of confidence that a task will be completed on time with the required quality standards. While good managers can develop good, intuitive estimates of task completion when assigning work to their team members, they might lack similar intuition for individuals drawn from an online crowd. The phrase, "Post and Hope" is thus sometimes used when talking about the crowdsourcing of software-development tasks. The objective of this paper is to show the value of replacing the traditional, intuitive assessment of a team's capability with a quantitative assessment of the crowd, derived through analysis of historical performance on similar tasks. This analysis will serve to transform "Post and Hope" to "Post and Expect." We demonstrate this by analyzing data about tasks performed on two popular crowdsourcing platforms: Topcoder and Upwork. Analysis of historical data from these platforms indicates that the platforms indeed demonstrate some level of predictability in task completion. We have identified certain factors that consistently contribute to task completion on both the platforms. Our findings suggest that a data-driven decision processes can play an important role in successful adoption of crowdsourcing practice for software development.

Communication between Developers and Testers in Distributed Continuous Agile Testing

Abstract: Software developers and testers have to work together to achieve the goals of software development projects. In globally distributed software projects the development and testing are often scattered across multiple locations forming virtual teams. Further, the distributed projects are so complex that none of team members can possibly possess all the knowledge about the project individually. During testing in such teams, developers and testers need to coordinate and communicate frequently. However, coordination is affected by the availability of the project information, which is distributed among different project members and organizational structures. Many companies are facing decisions about how to apply agile methods in their distributed projects. These companies are often motivated by the opportunities of solving the coordination and communication difficulties associated with global software development. In this paper we investigate the communication between testers and developers in two teams from two software companies performing continuous agile testing in a distributed setting. We describe four communication practices used by the team: handover through issue tracker system, formal meetings, written communication and coordination by mutual adjustment. We also discuss communication between testers and developers in collocated versus distributed testers and developers. We have found that early participation of the testers is very important to the success of the handover between testers and developers. The communication between developers and testers is not sufficiently effective through written communication and that it changes depending on the type of the tasks and experience of the testers.

Hiring in the Global Stage: Profiles of Online Contributions

Abstract: Managers are increasingly using online contributions to make hiring decisions. However, it is nontrivial to find the relevant information of candidates in large online, global communities. We present Visual Resume, a novel tool that aggregates information on contributions across two different types of peer production sites (a code hosting site and a technical QaA forum). Visual Resume displays summaries of developers' contributions, and allows easy access to contribution details. It also facilitates pairwise comparisons of candidates through a card-based design. Our study, involving participants from global organizations or corporations that draw from the global community, indicates that Visual Resume facilitated hiring decisions, both technical and soft skills were important when making these decisions.

Enabling Knowledge Sharing in Agile Virtual Teams

Abstract: Virtual teams, with a high level of interdependence and cooperation among team members, are one of the building blocks of successful global software organizations. Shared team knowledge is vital for effective collaboration in virtual teams. Hence, it makes sense for organizations to put in place efforts to ensure that teams have a sufficient level of shared knowledge. A successful agile virtual team needs to have shared knowledge on the tasks and how to do them, who knows what in the team, the development process, and the goals of the team. While shared knowledge helps on communication and collaboration, virtual teams meet several challenges in the form of values and norms, lack of face-to-face communication, time-zone differences, and difficulties in building and maintaining trust. We describe and discuss how a framework for establishing shared knowledge was applied to a global virtual agile team in a Product Centre at DNV GL -- an international provider of software for a safer, smarter and greener future in the energy, process and maritime industries. The whole group of 22 met face to face once a year, and we describe how they in one such team gathering worked on creating shared understanding about the task, the team, the process and goals of the virtual team.

Scaling Agile Scrum Software Development: Providing Agility and Quality to Platform Development by Reducing Time to Market

Abstract: Agile software development approach aims at overcoming the limitations of plan-driven software development by allowing requirement changes during all phases of product development and providing agility to organization to respond to changing market needs. Software organizations have successfully implemented agile scrum in distributed software development. However, they also encountered many challenges while implementation which led to considerable amount of effort spend just to manage work. Difficulties were primarily in the areas of communication, culture, different time zones, different level of domain know how across scrum teams, and knowledge management. In this practice paper, we will share practices and systems implemented, challenges encountered along with their countermeasures, and lessons learnt in successfully scaling the Agile Scrum development to 16 globally distributed scrum teams with 100+ team members, successfully delivering 2000+ user stories which required execution of 3000+ product test cases and 1000+ system test cases for verification and validation in a single version of platform release Providing Agility and Quality to Platform Development by Reducing Time to Market.

A Hub-and-Spoke Model for Tool Integration in Distributed Development

Abstract: Today distributed development depend on an ever-growing plethora of tools that provide a continual stream of updates and place developers into a situation of channel overload and information fragmentation. In this paper, we present our initial work on the definition of a model, named hub-and-spoke, for a loosely-coupled integration of development tools that can help developers cope with these issues, while also increasing their overall situational awareness.

A Global Teaming Model for Global Software Development Governance: A Case Study

Abstract: Global software development (GSD) is increasingly the norm. As firms expand into new markets overseas, acquire companies in different countries, and recruit talented developers in new locations, projects become distributed by necessity. As projects become increasingly distributed, and include external participants such as outsourcing vendors, conventional top-down management oversight and control becomes more difficult. How can organizations ensure that the activities of all parties involved are aligned with the strategic objectives and values of a software development undertaking? The Global Teaming Model is a framework that specifies practices and recommendations for Global Software Development. As such, it serves as a means to organize GSD practices relevant to Software Development Governance. We conducted a case study of a small team engaged in Global Software Development, identifying governance shortcomings. Then, we used the Global Teaming Model to identify governance practices that would address those shortcomings. We identified several aspects of the team's interactions with other teams in the company that would be improved by recommendations from the Global Teaming Governance Model. The Global Teaming Model provides a blueprint for Software Development Governance that organizations seeking to globalize their current development projects in a controlled way can use to implement good Software Development Governance.

Understanding Architectural Knowledge Sharing in AGSD Teams: An Empirical Study

Abstract: Nowadays, the use of agile methodologies (AM) in Global Software Development (GSD) -- known as AGSD -- is increasingly common. However, AM and GSD are not completely compatible. On the one hand, in AM people interactions (face-to-face) are preferred over document-based communications to share knowledge. On the other hand, in GSD knowledge sharing is conducted through documents to minimize the effect of the inherent four distances (physical, temporal, language and cultural). This means that tacit knowledge is preferred in AM and explicit knowledge is preferred in GSD. These differences between AM and GSD affect many aspects of software development, for instance: Architectural Knowledge Management. According to the literature, in AGSD it is preferred to convey Architectural Knowledge (AK) by frequent interactions across sites through unstructured and textual electronic media (UTEM) (chats, emails, forums, etc.), that is, AK is articulated in these media. UTEM leave a textual record of the transmitted information, thus leaving an unstructured log of the shared AK of the project. In this paper we present an empirical study to understand AK articulation in UTEM in AGSD teams. Our results consist of an ontology that represents the involved aspects in AK articulation in UTEM in AGSD teams. Additionally, we identified eleven categories of interactions across sites through UTEM, where requirements and coding themes are prominent. Finally, we found that AK in UTEM is perceived as important, regardless the interaction frequency. These results lead us to think that a tool to structure and exploit AK in UTEM is needed in AGSD, in order to bridge the gap between AM and GSD.

How Does Software Process Improvement Address Global Software Engineering

Abstract: For decades, Software Process Improvement (SPI) programs have been implemented, inter alia, to improve quality and speed of software development. To set up, guide, and carry out SPI projects, and to measure SPI state, impact, and success, a multitude of different SPI approaches and considerable experience are available. SPI addresses many aspects ranging from individual developer skills to entire organizations. It comprises for instance the optimization of specific activities in the software lifecycle as well as the creation of organization awareness and project culture. In the course of conducting a systematic mapping study on the state-of-the-art in SPI from a general perspective, we observed Global Software Engineering (GSE) becoming a topic of interest in recent years. Therefore, in this paper, we provide a detailed investigation of those papers from the overall systematic mapping study that were classified as addressing SPI in the context of GSE. From the main study's result set, a set of 30 papers dealing with GSE was selected for an in-depth analysis using the systematic review instrument to study the contributions and to develop an initial picture of how GSE is considered from the perspective of SPI. Our findings show the analyzed papers delivering a substantial discussion of cultural models and how such models can be used to better address and align SPI programs with multi-national environments. Furthermore, experience is shared discussing how agile approaches can be implemented in companies working at the global scale. Finally, success factors and barriers are studied to help companies implementing SPI in a GSE context.

Breaking Collaboration Barriers through Communication Practices in Software Crowdsourcing

Abstract: Software Crowdsourcing (SW CS) is an emerging area in Software Engineering (SE). It has a dynamic nature in which problems are opened up to crowds of people through an open call to solve problems with the incentive of prizes for the best solutions. Although SW CS has been increasingly adopted in the software industry, many open issues are still to be elucidated. For instance, collaboration aspects are one of those issues. They impact communication and coordination practices. This study aims to identify barriers to collaboration in SW CS and communication practices that might help overcome these barriers. We identified the barriers and practices from a qualitative data analysis study considering an available literature review report. Our study contributes to the SE area by providing insights for researchers, tool designers, and managers that might help them to better understand collaboration issues and proposed solutions to solve them.

Scrumconix: Agile and Documented Method to AGSD

Abstract: Many companies have adopted agile software development (ASD), mainly due to it can handle scarce requirements. However, some unsolved challenges exist in ASD, particularly in global software development (GSD) companies (known as AGSD). These challenges include ASD lax documentation contrasted by the methodological standardization required in GSD, due to its inherent distances. Lax documentation leads to documentation debt and architectural knowledge (AK) vaporization, which cause negative effects on the development process and on the product itself. In order to reduce these effects, we propose Scrumconix, a hybrid method that uses a lightweight approach to document in AGSD environments, which also aims to decrease the effect of linguistic and cultural distances. In addition, we present preliminary results of Scrumconix implementation in a Mexican AGSD company.

A State-of-the-Art of Empirical Literature of Crowdsourcing in Computing

Abstract: This paper aims at representing a state-of-the-art of crowdsourcing, along with various trends and opportunities of empirical research of crowdsourcing in computing field of study. A systematic mapping study (SMS) methodology has been employed to synthesize the empirical work done in crowdsourcing. This paper is based on the results generated from 400 primary studies of the SMS. The initial results of this SMS suggest that the crowdsourcing in Computing is not a field in its inception phase, rather, this field has matured considerably, with in less than a decade of empirical research. The paper highlights important trends in empirical crowdsourcing research along with gaps and opportunities for the researchers.

Challenges in Adapting Agile Testing in a Legacy Product

Abstract: This paper describes a case study of agile testing adoption in a legacy software product development referred here as Global Configurator Product (GCP). The stakeholders are distributed across locations in Germany, India and the U. S. Product development was practicing waterfall development model while adopting scrum. This paper shows challenges encountered by the testing team. The testing team evolved practices in the areas of new role mapping for test managers and testers, new responsibilities for test manager and tester, strengthening technical and soft skills of the testing team and adopting agile testing strategies. These practices contributed towards maximizing testing effectiveness and the product successes. This paper also demonstrates agile test pyramid and test-quadrant mapping with our testing and measures testing effectiveness with the help of testing metrics. The paper targets scrum masters, test managers and testers in agile software development.

Distributed Software Development with One Hand Tied Behind the Back: A Course Unit to Experience the Role of Communication in GSD

Abstract: Software development consists to a large extent of human-based processes with continuously increasing demands regarding interdisciplinary team work Understanding the dynamics of software teams can be seen as highly important to successful project execution Hence, for future project managers, knowledge about non-technical processes in teams is significant In this paper, we present a course unit that provides an environment in which students can learn and experience the role of different communication patterns in distributed agile software development In particular, students gain awareness about the importance of communication by experiencing the impact of limitations of communication channels and the effects on collaboration and team performance The course unit presented uses the controlled experiment instrument to provide the basic organization of a small software project carried out in virtual teams We provide a detailed design of the course unit to allow for implementation in further courses Furthermore, we provide experiences obtained from implementing this course unit with 16 graduate students We observed students struggling with technical aspects and team coordination in general, while not realizing the importance of communication channels (or their absence) Furthermore, we could show the students that lacking communication protocols impact team coordination and performance regardless of the communication channels used

Communication in Distributed Software Development: A Preliminary Maturity Model

Abstract: This paper presents a preliminary communication maturity model named C2M. The C2M model aims to help organizations to identify the maturity of communication-related aspects and processes providing a tool to reveal what practices need to be improved. The model is composed of three maturity areas respectively organized into factors, goals, and practices. It has been preliminarily evaluated in two steps. First, two focus group meetings were conducted in two organizations aiming to identify how fit the model is to attend its purpose. Second, a diagnosis activity was conducted in two organizations aiming to observe how the model is perceived when used in practice. The experts who participated in the diagnosis activity reported that the application of the model allowed them to become aware of communication issues their teams were facing that they had no knowledge of. Their positive feedback is an initial indication that the model is fit to point out the maturity of communication processes and practices in distributed software projects.

GSDgame: A Serious Game for the Acquisition of the Competencies Needed in GSD

Abstract: The phenomenon of globalization has, in recent years, forced companies to change their business model. Software development companies are no exception, and have attempted to join the global market so as to be able to hire labor in other countries in an attempt to reduce costs, increase productivity and gain competitive advantages. This is known as Global Software Development (GSD). Those companies that wish to carry out this practice require developers who possess the knowledge and skills required to solve problems that arise as a result of geographical, temporal and cultural distance. Traditional methods for teaching students or employees how to work in GSD environments are usually expensive, and require much effort. Serious games could, therefore, play a key role in this process, as they are educational games that allow the acquisition of knowledge and skills at a low cost. This paper presents a serious game called "GSDgame" with which some of the competencies needed in GSD can be acquired. The game simulates scenarios that usually occur in the overall development of a software project, thus enabling the user to become aware of the problems concerning GSD and gain some experience in solving these problems. Finally, we present the validation and testing developed by experts in serious games by means of an SG-based quality model.

Agile Practices for the Global Teaming Model

Abstract: The Global Teaming Model (GTM) is a CMMI (R)-style process model comprising 64 recommendations that synthesizes empirical evidence on how to overcome the obstacles faced by global software development projects. While the Global Teaming Model recommendations specify what a global software development project should do, it does not specify how. In order to provide concrete guidance for projects that wish to employ Agile methods in a global software development context, we asked, could the practices described in the Scaled Agile Framework (R) (SAFe (R)) provide examples for how GTM recommendations could be realized? We found 79 of 90 SAFe (R) Team level practices partly or wholly implement GTM recommendations. The SAFe (R) mapping onto the Global Teaming model provides a concrete roadmap for teams who need specific advice on how to implement GTM practices that have been identified as necessary to their success.

Managing Customer Involvement in Globally Distributed Agile Projects

Abstract: Agile software projects require frequent interactions between customer and team members especially during requirements analysis and acceptance testing. Though these phases normally require customer availability on-site, this type of involvement might be difficult with globally distributed projects where customer's location is different from team members' location. The traditional methods of customer involvement in distributed agile projects such as using the rich communication technologies (e.g. video-conferencing solutions) are commonly used. The problem with these methods is that team members may not recognize how their technical work requires customer involvement. Even if they know, they might forget to inform the customer or there might be a considerable time between the need for customer involvement and the nearest meeting with him. In addition, the review of the available mechanisms of customer support in thirty-six project management tools reveals a lack of computer-based support for customer involvement. This paper presents a research in-progress which aims to support the effective management of customer involvement in distributed agile teams. It proposes computer-based process support for managing customer involvement which can improve the meaningful communication between customer and agile team and improve customers' awareness with regard to the state of activities in which he participates in.

Agile Workbench: Tying People, Process, and Tools in Distributed Agile Delivery

Abstract: Agile software development approaches are becoming mainstream as organizations recognize that their delivery methodology has to be nimble and flexible to accommodate new technologies and evolving customer requirements. However, large organizations depend on a global software delivery model wherein software teams are geographically distributed, and such an environment seems unsuited for Agile to succeed. In such scenarios, it is a challenge to be able to bring together the organization's Agile methodology, development environment, and distributed teams together in a standardized way, to be able to implement and govern the distributed delivery process objectively. Here, we present our approach to govern the adoption, usage and progress thereof of a distributed Agile methodology, that ties together the team and tool aspects with it. This becomes a single window to quickly bootstrap distributed Agile delivery projects using specific methods, metrics and dashboards, collaboration and gamification approaches. We have implemented this approach as an interactive Agile Workbench to present the teams and stakeholders with context-rich actionable alerts as well as situational awareness and helps bridge the gaps between cross-functional distributed teams which is essential to successful delivery of agile projects.

An Empirical Study on Lean and Agile Methods in Global Software Development

Abstract: Nowadays, many individuals and teams involved on projects are already using agile development techniques as part of their daily work. However, we have much less experience in how to scale and manage agile practices in distributed software development. Distributed and global development-that requiring attention to many technical, organizational, and cultural issues as the teams interact to cooperatively delivery the solution. Alongside, very large team sizes, teams of teams, and more complex management structures forcing additional attention to coordination and management. At this level, there is an increasing need to standardize best practices to avoid reinvention and miscommunication across artifacts and processes. Complexity issues in enterprise software delivery can have significant impact on the adoption of agile approaches. As a consequence, agile strategies will typically need to be evaluated, tailored, and perhaps combined with traditional approaches to suit the particular context. The characteristics of software products and software development processes open up new possibilities that are different from those offered in other domains to achieve leanness and flexibility. Whilst Lean principles are universal, a further understanding of the techniques required to apply such principles from a software development angle. Thus, the aim of this research is to identify, how can combination of Lean and Agile practices facilitate to scale and manage distributed software development.

Teaching Global Software Development through Game Design

Abstract: In order to be prepared for careers in todays global economy, software engineering students need to understand the issues, methods, and practices associated with Global Software Development (GSD). One approach to teaching GSD is to conduct a GSD project class involving student teams from different institutions in different countries. This approach has the advantage of giving students first-hand experience with the barriers to collaboration and other issues faced by software development teams engaged in GSD. However, this approach is resource-intensive and requires cooperation among institutions. This paper presents an alternate approach based on game design, where students learn GSD concepts by developing a GSD simulation game. Following this approach, students learn about GSD through implementing a game engine that simulates the effects of global distance on a distributed software project. The experience shows that students seem to grasp the concepts and issues as a side effect of implementing the game.

Establishing Trust and Relationships through Video Conferencing in Virtual Collaborations: An Experience Report on a Global Software Engineering Course

Abstract: The rise of globalization in software engineering places a responsibility on educators to adequately prepare students for the unique challenges and demands of Global Software Engineering. Experiential Learning (EL) is an approach to teaching that emphasizes learning by doing. It can potentially enhance student engagement and, therefore, learning in GSE courses. In this paper, we present our findings based on student reflections about their first experience of virtual collaboration with a guest lecturer in a GSE course. In particular, we report on the challenges and learnings for students during this virtual meeting where they reflect on the importance of a pre-established relationship with the facilitator in cross-site communication. We compare our findings from student reflections with those shared by practitioners in our previous study about the challenges of distributed collaboration. We observed that both students and practitioners consider trust, goodwill, and a good relationship as important aspects in distributed communication and collaboration. Furthermore, we highlight that participating in even a single virtual meeting can help the students experience some of the challenges in GSE. We also provide the implications of such student experiences for the educators planning future GSE courses.

Using Data Analytics for Collaboration Patterns in Distributed Software Team Simulations: The Role of Dashboards in Visualizing Global Software Development Patterns

Abstract: This paper discusses how previous work on global software development learning teams is extended with the introduction of data analytics. The work is based on several years of studying student teams working in distributed software team simulations. The scope of this paper is twofold. First it demonstrates how data analytics can be used for the analysis of collaboration between members of distributed software teams. Second it describes the development of a dashboard to be used for the visualization of various types of information in relation to Global Software Development (GSD). Due to the nature of this work, and the need for continuous pilot studies, simulations of distributed software teams have been created with the participation of learners from a number of institutions. This paper discusses two pilot studies with the participation of six institutions from two different countries.

Towards Adopting Alternative Workforce for Software Engineering

Abstract: This paper proposes an approach for adopting alternative workforce in an organization. Alternative workforce refers to a pool of workers who work for the organization as contract workers or as crowd workers for a set of specific tasks or duration. Adoption of crowd workers as an alternative workforce is gaining a lot of attention these days. However, it is still not widely adopted by big organizations because of the concerns related to quality, timeliness, and confidentiality. A partial adoption of crowd workforce is a natural next step to leverage the benefits of crowdsourcing. The above partial adoption creates a hybrid workforce structure where different type of workers, such as full time employees, contractors, and crowd workers, work for the organization. A number of challenges need to be addressed for the above model to succeed. For instance, hiring right workers, establishing a proper collaboration among the workers distributed across geographies, and assessing the workers for confidentiality and privacy. This paper proposes a platform that alleviates some of the above challenges. We present a pilot performed on the platform and initial experiences gained from the adoption of the platform.

Condensing Architectural Knowledge from Unstructured Textual Media in Agile GSD Teams

Abstract: Agile Global Software Development (AGSD) is a reality, since nowadays software products are required to get into the market with more speed than before. This situation has pushed Global Software Development (GSD) companies to adopt lighter ways to develop software (Agile Software Development - ASD) to satisfy market demands. However, AGSD companies have encountered increased technical debt and architectural knowledge (AK) vaporization, mainly because the inherent differences between ASD and GSD, especially in documentation handling. This paper describes a research project in which it is proposed to exploit the AK that is recorded in unstructured textual electronic media (UTEM) generally used in AGSD, in order to decrease the problems of software evolution and maintenance, caused by a lack of adequate AK. Until now, the preliminary results of this research show that this approach could be feasible in AGSD environments.

Reflections on Requirements Change Management in Global Software Development: A Multiple Case Study

Abstract: Requirements Change Management (RCM) poses incessant challenges to globally distributed software projects. This doctoral study investigated the challenges faced by practitioners and the helpful as well as hindering role of Collaborative Technologies (CTs) in carrying out RCM activities. In this brief summary I present the challenges encountered by the researcher and the lessons learned in the fieldwork.

SM2PIA: A Model to Support the Development of Pragmatic Interoperability Requirements

Abstract: Companies have increasingly distributed their teams to increase productivity and quality, and to reduce their costs in software development processes. This scenario has brought new challenges to effective collaboration and to enhance communication across peers. Pragmatic interoperability has been considered as one of the key requirements to tackle these challenges. However, there is lack of research investigating how to support development of pragmatic interoperability across globally dispersed groups. This paper proposes a model to support pragmatic interoperability in software projects to foster collaboration in distributed environments. The proposed model was implemented and evaluated in a collaborative architecture which supports collaborative scientific experiments development.