IT outsourcing (ITO) engagements have become one of the prevailing IT strategies. Moreover, agile software development (ASD) approaches tend to replace traditional, sequential methods. Injecting ASD into ITO leads to agile global or distributed outsourced development (AGOSD/ADOSD) projects characterized by using agile methods within distributed environments rising the challenge of facilitating coordination and collaboration between teams.
Especially communication between client and external vendor became one of the major critical success factors. Consequently, my study examines communication practices within global IT projects.
(1) I conducted a structured literature review to extend the list of communication practices provided
by prior studies. (2) I consolidated and categorized them. (3) By having performed expert interviews, I deployed a ranking pointing out their practical relevance.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Theoretical Background
2.1 Related Work
2.2 AGOSD – A symbiosis of ITO and ASD
3. Research Method
3.1 Data Collection
3.2 Data Analysis
4. Results
4.1 AGOSD communication practices for large IT projects in the literature
4.2 Overview of AGOSD communication practices in large projects
4.3 Practical relevance of dedicated AGOSD communication practices in large projects
4.3.1. Category 1: Frequent Visits
4.3.2 Category 2: Multiple Communication Modes
4.3.3 Category 3: Mirroring / Balances Sites.
4.3.4 Category 4: Ambassador / Rotating Guru.
4.3.5 Category 5: Synchronization of Work Hours
5. Discussion
5.1 Summary of Findings and Implications
5.2 Limitation and Future Research
6. Conclusion
Research Objectives & Topics
The primary objective of this research is to evaluate the importance of known communication practices within Agile Global Outsourced Software Development (AGOSD) specifically for large IT projects. The study addresses the research question of why these practices are vital and identifies potential gaps in current methodologies by synthesizing existing literature and empirical expert insights.
- Communication challenges in distributed agile environments.
- Categorization of communication practices (e.g., Frequent Visits, Mirroring Sites).
- Empirical verification and ranking of practical relevance via expert interviews.
- Identification of new practices such as "Lessons-Learned" sessions.
- Strategic implications for team leads in global outsourcing contexts.
Excerpt from the Book
4.3.1. Category 1: Frequent Visits.
This category contains practices to improve the inter-team relationship. Establishing team member trust seems to be the most important factor in this category. Both interviewees rated it with a 5:
“You know, it is the most important thing […] What I noticed when I was working with foreign people, every person comes from a different cultural mindset […] [Trust] smoothens all and the project actually. I have also noticed what happens when the trust factor is partly missing: the person who is assigning the work to another team member in an another geography feels the need to constantly check the progress on it and ask for hourly reports”. (Interviewee 1, 66-82)
As interviewee 1 mentioned, trust is attributed an enormous level of importance, especially while working across different geographies. The statement of interviewee 2 is in alignment with the declaration of interviewee 1. Moreover, he underlined the quality of assigned tasks, i.e. people have to fulfill trust by delivering results with high quality.
Looking at rotation of employees, the interviewees assigned a lower rate. According to interviewee 1, it does not make any difference in relation to the performance of the agile team:
“With my project experience what I can say is, I have been in a project where people were doing a rotation as well as you said. People who were working as developers on the Java front, there would be a loss when they work on the database front […] I could see it helped. I could also see in another project where there was no such kind of rotation policy and that worked as well like the other one. I could not see any additional benefit.” (Interviewee 1, 88-93)
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Outlines the rise of IT outsourcing and agile software development, defining the AGOSD context and the motivation for this study.
2. Theoretical Background: Reviews previous research on communication practices in agile environments and defines the symbiosis of ITO and agile methods.
3. Research Method: Details the structured literature review and the empirical expert interview process used to rank communication practices.
4. Results: Presents the gathered data and provides a detailed analysis of communication practices categorized by their practical relevance in large projects.
5. Discussion: Synthesizes findings, highlighting the importance of soft team skills and provides implications for both research and industrial practice.
6. Conclusion: Summarizes the study's impact on making communication relevance in AGOSD more transparent and suggests directions for future research.
Keywords
AGOSD, ADOSD, IT Outsourcing, Agile Software Development, Communication Practices, Distributed Teams, Knowledge Management, Scrum, Offshore Outsourcing, Global Software Engineering, Team Trust, Project Management, Virtual Teams, Empirical Study, Software Lifecycle
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this research paper?
The paper focuses on identifying and ranking communication practices within Agile Global Outsourced Software Development (AGOSD), specifically tailored to large-scale IT projects.
What are the primary thematic areas covered?
The study covers areas such as frequent visits, multiple communication modes, site mirroring, ambassador roles, and the synchronization of work hours in distributed teams.
What is the central research question?
The research asks how important currently known communication practices in AGOSD are for large IT projects, why they are important, and which practices might be missing.
Which scientific methodology was applied?
The author conducted a structured literature review followed by empirical qualitative research through expert interviews with industry professionals.
What is covered in the main section of the paper?
The main part analyzes and categorizes communication practices, presents a ranking of their practical relevance, and provides qualitative justifications based on expert feedback.
What are the characterizing keywords of the work?
Key terms include AGOSD, IT Outsourcing, Agile Software Development, Communication Practices, Distributed Teams, and Knowledge Management.
How does trust impact distributed agile teams according to the experts?
Experts emphasized that trust is the most critical factor; when missing, it leads to micromanagement, such as constant status checking, whereas high trust improves project flow and quality.
What role do groupware tools play in AGOSD?
Groupware tools are considered a "must-have" for effective collaboration, enabling real-time information sharing and reducing redundancy in distributed virtual teams.
Why are "Lessons-Learned" sessions significant?
Identified as a new practice during the research, these sessions allow teams to examine completed sprints, identify improvements, and reduce future defects.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Oliver Götz (Autor:in), 2017, Distributed Agile Outsourcing. An Overview of Methods and Success Factors, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/355110
