Collaboration practices in global inter‐organizational software development projects

Abstract

Abstract Global interorganizational software development projects are becoming common, but their management and the creation of practices and processes to support collaboration seem to be harder than what the companies expect. In this article, we present successful collaboration practices collected in an interview study of eight globally distributed interorganizational software development projects. On the basis of 34 semistructured interviews, we were able to identify several practices that the interviewees subjectively deemed successful. The identified collaboration practices include: milestone synchronization, frequent deliveries, and the establishment of peer‐to‐peer links. The need to plan for problem‐solving communication was often neglected in the beginning of the project, despite its paramount importance. We identified several ways to ease related problems, such as having a dedicated person solve problems, using bulletin boards and e‐mail lists or dedicated mailboxes. Successful projects had learned the value of two‐way communication regarding project progress monitoring. Finally, practices helping in building and maintaining a working relationship included face‐to‐face meetings, distribution of organization charts, and having people travel to give all sites faces. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.