A Study of the Impact of Global Software Development in Packaged Software Release Planning

Abstract

[ES]La globalización actual de desarrollo de software tiene sus ventajas, pero también sus inconvenientes. Los directores de proyectos de software a menudo conducen a la producción de nuevas versiones de software su puesta en el mercado. Este trabajo analiza los principales desafíos a los que se enfrentan los productos de software. Para lograr este objetivo, en este estudio se aplican dos técnicas cualitativas, a saber: Focus Group y un estudio Delphi. Se hizo una lista teniendo en cuenta la adopción de prácticas de GSD y el otro no tener en cuenta la adopción de estas prácticas. Los resultados muestran que hay algunos problemas, aparentemente resueltos, mientras que quedan otros retos por resolver.

[EN] Today’s globalization of software development has its advantages, but also its drawbacks. Software project managers often lead the production of new software versions and their release on the market. This paper analyses the main challenges faced by software product managers in release planning with regard to the adoption of Global Software Development (GSD) practices for developing packaged software. To achieve this objective, two qualitative techniques are used in this study, namely, Focus Group and Delphi Study. The experiment produced two lists, ranking challenges in software release planning. One list was made considering the adoption of GSD practices and the other did not take into account the adoption of these practices. Results show that there are some, apparently solved, challenges for packaged software release planning like “Project monitoring & control” or “Quality management” that become crucial when facing GSD scenarios, while there are other important challenges in traditional software release planning such as “Requirements prioritisation” and “Stakeholders Management” that apparently do not add extra pressure in GSD environments. In sum, GSD is found to be highly influenced by issues concerning personnel and human resources management.