We report on the experiences of Siemens Corporation in nine globally-distributed software development projects. These projects represent a range of collaboration models, from co-development to outsourcing of components to outsourcing the software for an entire project. We report experience and lessons in issues of project management, division of labor, ongoing coordination of technical work, and communication. We include lessons learned, and conclude the paper with suggestions about important open research issues in this area. Categories and Subject Descriptors D.2.9 [Management]: Life cycle, Productivity, Programming teams. General Terms Management, Design, Economics. Keywords Geographically distributed development, global development, multi-site development, outsourcing.
James D. Herbsleb, Daniel J. Paulish, Matthew Bass