By Navneet Bhushan and Karthikeyan (Karthik) Iyer

Increasing globalization indicates that the world will see an increase in global software development. Studying the global software development landscape, this article identifies six different global software development scenarios. These include, in-house – near-shore; in-house – offshore; outsourced – near-shore; outsourced – offshore; collaborative – near-shore and collaborative – offshore. In each of these scenarios the relative project management challenges and priorities are different. The following is Part Three of a three-part series. Part One discussed project management and global software development scenarios. Part Two explored methodology as well as outsourced and in-house software development projects.

Collaborative Software Development Projects

In the near-shore collaborative software development projects, the most important aspect of software project management is scope management (a relative weight of 27 percent). This is followed by integration, communication and risk management (a relative weight of 16 percent, 15 percent and 14 percent, respectively). It is interesting to note that cost management has a relatively low weight of eight percent. When collaborative projects are developed in multiple geographic locations (collaborative offshore software development projects) there is an appreciable increase in risk and communication management issues (a relative weight of 20 percent and 19 percent, respectively). It is also interesting to note that in the collaborative offshore software development scenario the relative importance of scope management has come down (from 27 percent to 21 percent, respectively). It still continues to be the most important aspect of collaborative offshore software development projects. Figure1 and Figure2 shows the Kiviat charts for collaborative software development projects – near-shore and offshore. Combining these two Kiviat charts as shown in Figure 3, shows a shift in relative importance of project management arms based on whether the collaborative software development projects are done near-shore or offshore.

Figure 1: Collaborative Near-shore Scenario

Figure 2: Collaborative Offshore Scenario

Figure 3: Collaborative Scenarios – Near-shore andOffshore

Near-shore Scenarios

By combining all three near-shore scenarios (outsourcing, in-house and collaborative) this is what results in the Kiviat chart shown in Figure 4. In all three scenarios, scope management comes in the top three for factors in terms of relative weights. It is a maximum (of 27 percent) in the collaborative software development scenario and is a minimum (of 13 percent) in the in-house software development scenario. Time management is also in the top five factors of the software project management in all three scenarios. Quality management, however, changes to a high of 23 percent and 18 percent. In the in-house and outsourced scenarios both have seen a dip in the collaborative scenario to just four percent. This indicates that in the near-shore collaborative scenarios other factors play a major role and project managers need to focus on other factors more than quality management. Communication management, however, has become an important factor in the collaborative scenario (a relative weight of 15 percent) compared to outsourced (four percent) and in-house (three percent).

Figure 4: All Near-shore Scenarios

Offshore Scenarios

By combining all three offshore scenarios (outsourcing, in-house and collaborative) this is what results in the Kiviat chart shown in Figure 5. In all three scenarios, risk management comes in the top three for factors in terms of relative weights. It is a maximum (of 26 percent) in outsourced software development scenarios and is a minimum (of 11 percent) in the in-house software development scenario. Communication management is also in the top three factors of software project management in all three scenarios. Human resource management, however, changes to a low of three percent and two percent. In collaborative and outsourced scenarios both have seen a rise in the in-house scenario to 25 percent. This indicates that in the in-house offshore scenarios human resource challenges play a major role and project managers need to focus on people-related factors more than other management issues. Scope management, however, is an important factor in the collaborative scenario (a relative weight of 21 percent) compared to outsourced (six percent) and in-house (four percent).

Figure 5: All Offshore Scenarios

Conclusion

The strategic project management prioritization framework described in this paper gives a concise focus area for any project manager in global software development scenarios. It can be used as a valuable tool whenever the planning in global software development projects needs to be carried out. In the six scenarios described in this three-partseries three are near-shore and three are offshore. In the near-shore software development projects risk management is of relatively low priority. Scope management assumes major importance. In offshore global software development project scenarios, risk management becomes the area of concern along with communication management. It is recommended that in all off-shoring scenarios, whether in-house, outsourcing or collaborative scenarios, clear communication management structures and comprehensive risk management plans will go a long way in ensuring smooth project execution.

The framework described is generic enough to be used for a variety of software project management scenarios and for using in decision-making regarding in-house, outsourcing or collaborative software development. As part of further research the authors plan to explore the application of the framework and the relative impact of fine-grained parameters in various aspects of global software development scenarios.

About the Authors:

Navneet Bhushan is the founder / director of an innovation co-creating firm, Crafitti Consulting Pvt Ltd. He has worked close to two decades in managing and developing IT, innovation and productivity solutions and has worked in large commercial and government organizations. He is the principal author of Strategic Decision Making – Applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process published by Springer, UK, 2004. His current research interests include complexity, open innovation and globalization. He is a visiting faculty member at Welingkar School of Business Management. Contact Navneet Bhushan at navneet.bhushan (at) crafitti.com or visit http://www.crafitti.com.

Karthikeyan (Karthik) Iyer is a Founder / Director of an innovation co-creating firm, Crafitti Consulting Pvt Ltd. He has more than nine years of experience in the IT industry and has consulted on innovation in processes, product strategy, technology, intellectual property and organizational innovation capability. His areas of interest include innovation culture and chaos theory, open innovation, inventive principles and technology evolution trends. Contact Karthikeyan (Karthik) Iyer at karthikeyan.iyer (at) crafitti.com or visit http://www.crafitti.com.