Page 319 - Global Project Management Handbook

SUCCESS FACTORS IN VIRTUAL GLOBAL SOFTWARE PROJECTS 16-7

Distance
An old rule goes that when team members are located more than 50 feet apart from each
other, their frequency of communication decreases significantly (Allen, 1997). Imagine
how much more the frequency declines between a software project manager in California
and a programmer in India. For the same distance reason, other forms of communication
also decrease: the informal, unplanned, and ad hoc communication so vital to supporting
software team collaboration (Curtis et al., 1988; Perry et al., 1994; Herbsleb and Grinter,
1999). Worst of all, “rich” communication, defined as a two-way interaction involving
more than one sensory channel, drops off because of the distance. For example, phone
conversations, which occur frequently in VGS projects, are not as information-rich as
face-to-face meetings, which are typical in colocated projects.
Why is this important to global SWD projects? These projects need a high level of
coordination and control to be successful, which requires an exemplary quality of fac-
tors such as frequency of communication, both formal and informal communication,
and the use of rich, high-efficiency communication media (Raffo and Setamanit,
2005).
When these factors decrease because of distance, the ultimate impact is lower
coordination. Similarly, project control will suffer due to lack of information.
Ultimately, project performance may slip. The product architecture needs to be
adapted for multiple sites to create harmonious and parallel software development. In
particular, proper architecture can develop modular design such that interdependence
between modules, that is, between the sites responsible for them, is minimal, reducing
coordination and control problems and increasing the likelihood of attaining the desired
project performance.
The distance factor also dictates the process/development strategy. Specifically,
when multiple sites are identified and product architecture developed, it is time to
allocate tasks to the sites. There are three major process/development strategies (Fig. 16.2):
module-based, phase-based, and integrated allocation (also called “follow-the-sun”)
(Carmel, 1999).

Site A
Module-based
Site B

t = 0 Delivery

Site A
Phase-based
Site B

Site A
Integrated
(follow-the-sun)
Site B

FIGURE 16.2 Three task-allocation strategies.