Global Software Engineering: Lessons from Industry

Successfully managing distributed projects on an industry scale has rapidly become a key competence for any engineering manager. Challenges vary, be it distributed teams and collaboration technologies, handling cultural diversity and multisite projects, optimizing outsourcing and off shoring capacities, or managing suppliers. The vast majority of global activities do not deliver to targets and half of them fail. The diversity of cultures, suppliers and products require dedicated techniques, tools, and practices to overcome challenges. This tutorial summarizes experiences and guidance from industry in a way to help knowledge and technology transfer. It looks to processes and approaches for successfully handling global software development and outsourcing and offers many practical hints and concrete explanations to make distributed teams and projects a success. Session attendees can raise specific questions from industry practice or academic research to get first-hand insight into GSE state of practice as well as new thoughts and trends that will shape the future.