Global Software and IT – A Guide to Distributed Development, Projects, and Outsourcing

CHRISTOF EBERT, PhD, is Managing Director at Vector Consulting Services. He supports companies around the world to improve product development and strategy and to manage organizational changes. Dr. Ebert sits on a number of advisory and industry bodies. Over the years, he has set up and improved several offshoring sites and performed due diligence assessments. He serves on the executive board of the IEEE International Conference on Global Software Engineering series and teaches at the University of Stuttgart.

Foreword ix About the Author xi Introduction 1 Part I Strategy 1. Different Business Models 7 2. The Bright Side: Benefi ts 15 3. The Dark Side: Challenges 19 4. Deciding the Business Model 27 5. Preparing the Business Case 33 Part II Development 6. Requirements Engineering 39 7. Estimation and Planning 45 8. Development Processes 53 9. Practice: Global Software Architecture Development 59 10. Practice: Software Chunks and Distributed Development 69 11. Confi guration Management 81 12. Open Source Development 83 13. Quality Control 89 14. Tools and IT Infrastructure 95 15. Practice: Collaborative Development Environments 109 Part III Management 16. Life-Cycle Management 127 17. Supplier Selection and Evaluation 131 18. Supplier Management 135 19. Practice: IT Outsourcing-A Supplier Perspective 141 20. Monitoring Cost, Progress, and Performance 151 21. Risk Management 165 22. Practice: Risk Assessment in Globally Distributed Projects 179 23. Intellectual Property and Information Security 189 24. Practice: Global Software Engineering in Avionics 193 25. Practice: Global Software Engineering in Automotive 209 Part IV People and Teams 26. Work Organization and Resource Allocation 227 27. Roles and Responsibilities 237 28. Soft Skills 241 29. Training and Coaching 245 30. Practice: People Factors in Globally Distributed Projects 249 31. Practice: Requirements Engineering in Global Teams 257 32. Practice: Educating Global Software Engineering 269 Part V Advancing Your Own Business 33. Key Take-Away Tips 283 34. Global Software and IT Rules of Thumb 293 35. The World Remains Flat 297 Appendices Appendix A Checklist/Template: Getting Started 303 Appendix B Checklist/Template: Self Assessment 309 Appendix C Checklist/Template: Risk Management 315 Glossary and Abbreviations 319 Bibliography 339 Index 349