Translocality in Global Software Development: the Dark Side of Global Agile

Abstract

What happens when agile methods are introduced in global outsourcing set-ups? Agile methods are designed to empower IT developers in decision-making through selfmanaging collocated teams. We studied how agile methods were introduced into global outsourcing from the Indian IT vendor´s perspective. We explored how agile processes in global outsourcing impacts work conditions of the Indian IT developers, and were surprised to find that agile methodologies, even after three years of implementation, created a stressful and inflexible work environment negatively impacting their personal lives. Many of the negative aspects of work, which agile methodologies were developed to reduce, were evident in the global agile outsourcing set-up.

Infrastructural Inaccessibility

“…In particular, we paid attention to the ways in which the tech entrepreneurs describe and articulate their everyday work situation, as well as the workarounds involved. In this manner, we wanted to explore the trans-locality of the Palestinian tech entrepreneurs' situations, thus zooming in on the asymmetric relationships within the local circumstances (Bjørn et al 2017). We wanted to understand the situation from their perspective, drawing upon their experiences (Blomberg et al 1993, Blomberg andKarasti 2013), and using their own vocabulary.…”

“…By exploring the trans-locality (Bjørn et al 2017) embedded in the historic and political infrastructures (Latour 2005) of the everyday work situations of the Palestinian tech entrepreneurs, we find that the everyday presence of visibly available control mechanisms-such as the separation wall, ID cards, barbed wires, and checkpointsare a constant manifestation of infrastructures, reflecting upon what it means to work under occupation. Interestingly, the infrastructures of control mechanisms are, to a certain extent, invisible most of the time for the tech-entrepreneur.…”

“…However, it is important for HCI researchers to understand that even if there is a technological fix to a problem, it does not necessarily mean that it will be fixed, since global geo-political concerns shape and are shaped by digital technology. This suggests that apart from continuing to make progress by developing new technologies, HCI research must also pay attention to the political considerations which are at play when digital technologies are designed and executed with different types of trans-locality (Bjørn et al 2017).…”

“…From the literature, we identified five types of infrastructures that are crucial for the functioning of global tech entrepreneurship. These include infrastructures of location (Bjørn et al 2017, Welter et al 2017, infrastructures of community (Hui and Gerber 2017), infrastructures of funding (Lins and Lutz 2016), infrastructures of digital platforms (Belleflamme, Lambert et al 2014), and infrastructures of politics and history (Bijker et al 1987). Furthermore, we identify additional types of infrastructures that are crucial for enabling entrepreneurs to reach both local and global users as well as investors.…”

Introduction to This Special Issue on Open Design at the Intersection of Making and Manufacturing

“…We know that there are strong cultural differences between these loci (Lindtner et al, 2014;Bardzell et al, 2017; and even cultural differences within these loci (Green & Kirk, 2018), yet the fact that 'open design' unites activities across these sites suggests that open design is culturally diverse. We must therefore pay greater attention to innovation taking place in contexts of infrastructural inaccessibility such as the tech start-up scene in Palestine (Bjørn and Boulus-Rødje, 2018), while registering the wide socioeconomic differences between technology development in the Global South and in the Global North (Bjørn et al 2017). Indeed, in some parts of the world, 'open design' may exist by another name.…”