Issues of Communication and Cooperation in Offshore Software Development

Abstract

Offshore software development (OSD) is an important trend in information technology outsourcing field. Within this trend software development is increasingly going global, with development occurring in multiple sites located in different geographic regions. On the other hand, software development is a collaborative endeavor, in which communication and cooperation play an important role. Effective communication and coordination from multiple sites is extremely important for OSD. Some studies reveal that cross-site communication and coordination issues can cause a substantial loss of development speed. This paper examines and analysis the issues of cross-site communication and cooperation in OSD, and how can these issues be addressed. There are various approaches to manage communication and coordination from distance. These include the introduction of communication technologies, explicit control mechanisms, and models for reducing the need for cross-site coordination.