Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
The third index was SI (support index) and it was from 0 to 0.3 and for five scenar-
ios from ten this index was at least 0.2.
In this case we can conclude that although there are some suspicious patterns
(GSD02, GSD05 and GSD16), as a whole the pattern language provides good support
for the scenarios. For instance, patterns that relate to the application lifecycle manage-
ment, especially GSD06 and GSD07, indicate strong support for the selected scenarios.
During the workshop, several improvement possibilities for GSD patterns were
found and the analysis resulted in a better understanding of the limits of the GSD
Pattern Language. For example, the analysis resulted in the finding that GSD patterns
do not include all needed practices in critical fault management or knowledge transfer
areas. GSD patterns also assume that the development environment is in very good
shape and that the communication network is working at a reasonable level. Some
patterns originally intended for the beginning of a project were also found useful
during a project.
5 Discussion
Various process or organizational pattern languages have been presented in the litera-
ture, concentrating mainly on local development [5,6,15,17]. Social patterns have
been presented in [18].
The results obtained from the evaluation of GSD patterns indicate important issues
for global software development. One of the issues is secure shared Common Reposi-
tories
and Tools
as an ALM (application lifecycle management) solution: electronic
connections (e-meetings, teleconferencing, web cameras, chat, wiki) were seen as
essential solutions to support a collaborative mode of work. This has also been indi-
cated in other case studies related to global product development, for instance, in [19]
and [20] (e.g. intranet data sharing, teleconferencing). The authors have also studied
the applicability of ALM to support the management of distributed software devel-
opment projects [21]. The results showed that ALM supported the operation in a
global development environment. The results of Q-PAM analysis presented in this
paper support this claim, too. From all GSD process patterns presented in this paper,
especially GSD06 (
Communication Tools
) and GSD07 (
Common Repositories and
Tools
) are related to ALM. Analysis results indicate that ALM related patterns sup-
port the selected scenarios.
The results from earlier work [9,10,11] show that the most successful global soft-
ware development issues have been improvements in visibility, management of fea-
tures, communication, and commitment to the goals of the project. The importance of
these issues for global software development has also been discussed in [22].
Communication problems have been resolved by utilizing
Multi-Level Daily
Meetings
,
Iteration planning, Iteration review
. These issues have also been dis-
cussed both in [23] and [24].
6 Conclusions
An efficient global software development process is very important for companies.
Project management is a key process to improve efficiency in distributed development
