Distributed Software Development: Toward an Understanding of the Relationship Between Project Team, Users and Customers.

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to propose a typology for distributed software development comprising the relation between the three main stakeholders: project team (developers, analysts, managers, testers, system administrator, etc), customers and users. We propose a set of criteria to define geographically distributed environments. As a result, a model to define the distribution level for an organization in a Distributed Software Development (DSD) environment is presented. The model is applied to two exploratory case studies and its results discussed. These cases studies involve companies with headquarters in the United States and a development unit in Brazil. Advantages of this model as well as some aspects of the increasing distribution of software development particularly in a few Brazilian organizations are discussed.