The Six Centripetal Forces for Successful Global Software

1. The Six Centripetal Forces for Successful Global Software • Telecommunication Infrastructure • Collaborative Technology

2. Telecommunication Infrastructure • A global software team requires a • Reliable network • High bandwidth network

3. Telecommunication Infrastructure • Private Internal network • Is created by a combination of leased lines and/or satellite links. • Widely available at reasonable cost • Alternative to wireline is wireless connectivity, particularly through high bandwidth satellite links.

4. Telecommunication Infrastructure • A Virtual Private network • Connects dispersed offices through the internet. Each office is connected through the internet through it local Internet service provider (ISP) • Connection is from the software development site to the local ISP is set up via dial-up or leased lines. • The IP-based network then uses encryption, tunnrling (a technique in which one protocol is carried inside another) • VPN is less costly than Private Internet Network because it reduces access and connectivity costs as well as some equipment costs. • However, there is a trade-off between cost and performance. There is also a trade off between cost and security.

5. Telecommunication Infrastructure • Evolution of the Internet • 1969: The defense department commissions ARPANET to research computer networking. Later in the year, the first nodes of the system go on-line at UCLA, Stanford Research Institute and University of Utah • 1971: Fifteen individual nodes of ARPANET go on-line, joining 23 host computers • 1972: Operators create the first email program to send and receive messages across the network. Norway and England become the first international connections to ARPANET • 1988: The first businesses begin to connect to the system for research purposes • 1989: The number of computers on ARPANET breaks 100,000 • 1990: ARPANET ceases to exist. The network is officially referred to as Internet

6. Telecommunication Infrastructure • TCP/IP • A protocol is an agreed method of handling a particular communication task. • There is a protocol for sending mail, another for transferring a file, and so forth. • The TCP/IP suite of protocols, which define a standard method of communications between Internet hosts, is implemented in virtually all computer systems, regardless to the hardware or operating system.

7. Collaborative technologies • Collaborative technologies promises to collapse distance and bring us closer to our colleague far away. • Generic Collaborative technology Time Same Different E-mail Voice-mail Video-mail Groupware platform Calendar/schedule Discussion list Video-conference Audio-conference E-chart E-whiteboard Different Place Same meetingware

8. Collaborative technologies • Formal and Informal Communications • Formal: help mitigate the inevitable communication breakdown that occur as a result of distance and culture • Informal: collaborative technology needs to emulate the co-located work environment as much as possible, with its informal mechanisms for resolving problems (finding, sorting, processing, and retrieving the information that members need to solve a problem)

9. Collaborative Technologies • Collaborative Technology supports Deliberation and Workflow: • Deliberation: The classic problem-solving activities of identifying the problem, evaluating the solutions, selecting a desired plan, and monitoring its implementation. • Workflow: routing objects from one person to another in need of work, review, or authorization.

10. Collaborative technologies • Objectives • 1. Serves as a team memory & knowledge center • The team store and shares information and knowledge across a work unit • Provides each team member a 360 view • All members at all sites are informed regarding task, status, people, and other dynamic team information (transparency) • Forster a sense of community • The “glue” creates and maintains interpersonal relationships

11. Collaborative technologies • Cultural Overlay of Collaborative Technology • Almost culturally neutral • Compare to face-face • Away from high context culture to high informational mode

12. Collaborative Technologies to Support Software Engineering CT-SE • Objectives • 1. Serves as a team memory & knowledge center • The team store and shares information and knowledge across a work unit • 2. Provides each team member a 360 view • All members at all sites are informed regarding task, status, people, and other dynamic team information (transparency) • 3. Reduces duplication of effort • Software engineers need to share many types of project knowledge, otherwise they may end up fixing the same bug or working on software components that are out of date as result of others’ work. • 4. Supports coordination activities and workflow • Need to support team members self-managing tasks via electronic lateral coordination and via electronic workflow procedures. • Support Quality Assurance • Bug tracking, version control, requirement tracking, are essential to maintaining quality level.

13. Collaborative Technologies to Support Software Engineering CT-SE • CT-SE Functions • Software configuration management (SCM) • As a control and enforcement mechanism, it establishes formalism: used to control processes, set the rules, and structure the workflow within a team • As a coordination mechanism, it is an effective way to create up-front dialogue among the dispersed sites. • Project status • Notification services • Project scheduling and tasking • CASE and process management • Programming tools • Bugs and change tracking • Team memory and knowledge center