How Globally Distributed Software Teams Can Improve Their Collaboration Effectiveness?

While advanced collaboration tools are available in the market, feedback from organizations suggests a sub-optimal use and insufficient value leveraged from these tools. Our research focuses on identifying patterns of collaboration among distributed team members by mapping the interaction scenarios and associated goals, task contexts, success factors and constraints of collaboration with the choice of mechanisms used. Based on this analysis and utilizing a Goal Oriented Collaboration Strategy Framework, we analyze the effectiveness of collaboration mechanisms in specific scenarios involving a multi-geo, multi-cultural and multi-organization software development project. We recommend a planning based approach that identifies a basket of collaboration practices and tool features that distributed teams should use to enhance their collaboration effectiveness. We believe this research will not only help distributed software teams to improve their effectiveness but will also provide insights to tool vendors for appropriate tool design.