EVOLUTION OF OFFSHORE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Evolution of Offshore Software Development

Abstract

In this study we try to explore the concept of Offshore Software development in a holistic context. The main focus of the research is on Offshore Software development and its relation with evolution in U.S. The research also analyzes many aspects of “topic” and tries to gauge its effect on evolution in U.S. the case study approach has been adopted in New Zealand at IT company, SystemNet.

Evolution of Offshore Software Development

Introduction

Software development is a knowledge intensive activity that typifies work in the "knowledge" or "network" society (Sahay, Nicholson & Krishna 2003). International outsourcing impacts on the software development practices in many ways due to differences in cultures, spoken languages, power structure within organizations, quality standards, documentation, time zones, and software updates and estimations. As offshore outsourcing becomes increasingly widespread, understanding the impact of these practices on the effectiveness of the software development effort will become increasingly important (Edwards & Sridhar 2003). There are certain key drivers affecting these practices, which have evolved during the outsourcers' learning curve, come from past experiences, and can only be studied empirically.

Domain skills relating to technologies, specifications, processes, methodologies, skills, objectives, and management systems can be transferred from client to developer. But they all have informational components consisting of two parts: the explicit knowledge that can be laid out formally and the tacit knowledge regarding customer, design and programming choices, and working practices that cannot (Heeks et al. 2001). Hence, with such extended knowledge, the librarian law applies, which states: "The more knowledge that is available, the more effort has to be spent on the processes to use it". Offshore vendors too have recognized this law and are moving to capitalize on the currently growing global scenario, by trying to capture and emulate offshore development models that have met with success (Herbsleb & Moitra 2001).

Frameworks related to the managing of the process of offshore outsourcing of software development have been developed in previous research studies (e.g. Heeks et al. 2001; Smith, Mitra & Narasimhan 1996). Gopal, Mukhopadhyay et al. (2002) have defined a conceptual model for offshore software development, based on data collected from 34 application software firms from two large offshore development houses in India (see figure I). Their model emphasizes the effect of many software development processes on the three performance measures of software development viz. time, effort and rework. Software estimation is a continual process used throughout the life cycle of a project, and use of proper documentation with detailed history of model calibration and modifications made will provide guidelines for future cost estimations in software development (Agarwal et al. 2001; Gopal, Krishnan, Mukhopadhyay & Goldenson 2002). However, certain aspects of virtual team communication, coordination and control, cultural differences, project and process management issues, and relationship management issues too need to be addressed or elaborated in the model, as they have been identified as key variables in earlier literature.

The field of software engineering in the offshore domain is relatively new and procedures for quality ...