Challenges and Improvements in Distributed Software Development: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Distributed Software Development (DSD) has recently evolved, resulting in an increase in the available literature. Organizations now have a tendency to make greater development efforts in more attractive zones. The main advantage of this lies in a greater availability of human resources in decentralized zones at less cost. There are, however, some disadvantages which are caused by the distance that separates the development teams. Coordination and communication become more difficult as the software components are sourced from different places, thus affecting project organization, project control, and product quality. New processes and tools are consequently necessary. This work presents the findings of a systematic review of the literature related to the challenges concerning Distributed Software Development, whose purpose is to identify the solutions and improvements proposed up to the present day.

Communication through Boundary Objects in Distributed Agile Teams

“…There is, however, a common denominator, and that is the lack of face-to-face communication. This makes coordination and communication more difficult, which in turn can affect project control and product quality [14]. In response to these challenges, a number of practices for distributed teams employing agile methods have been proposed, e.g.…”

A Framework of Challenges and Key Factors for Applying Agile Methods for the Development and Customisation of Software Products in Distributed Projects

“…This movement is driven by several factors, such as the need to optimise the avenues for creating high-quality software products by highly qualified teams [9]. Furthermore, the DSD suitable for the organisations involved have distributed geographical locations.…”

“…On the other hand, there have also been some research and industrial experiences related to adopting agile software development for distributed software development (DSD) projects or global development projects (GSD) [10,11]. However, using the agile approach in DSD projects involves many challenges and issues [9], such as the lack of face-to-face interactive communication between people at distributed sites. In this paper, we focus on those organisations that develop and provide software products for different distributed customers, then customise those products.…”

Software Quality Management Improvement through Mentoring: An Exploratory Study from GSD Projects

“…The most conveyed benefits include lower costs (e.g., [6]; [7]; [8]; [9]), greater availability of human resources and multi-skilled workforce (e.g. [10]; [11]; [12]; [13]), and shorter time-to-market cycles (e.g. [11], [14]; [15]).…”

“…One of the challenges for GSD is quality and its management [12]. According to [17], quality usually is not directly affected by the distributed nature of GSD projects; however, some papers describe indirect effects of distributed collaboration on quality [18], [19].…”