Global Software Teams: Opportunities and Challenges of Technology-Enabled Work

Abstract

The recent, worldwide spread of software development has given rise to countless global software teams. Each team collaborates on a software or information systems project while being separated by at least one national boundary. Every team site—and sometimes as many as five sites are spread across as many nations—has a local manager and perhaps several team leaders. Together, a team’s managers and leaders supervise and coordinate the activities of dozens of employees, including designers, software architects, quality engineers, programmers, and documentation personnel.Businesses can now set up these global teams for two main reasons. The Internet and other communication technologies made this latest generation of “technology-enabled work” possible. Also important is managerial acceptance of outsourcing. In recent years, business leaders have become increasingly comfortable with the notion of parsing off pieces of work to a third party, especially when the opportunity exists to cut labor costs, cut product development time, and tap into talented labor pools that exist around the globe.The spread of global software teams provides opportunities for companies and workers, but it also presents them with challenges. Global operations produce unique managerial issues. And, although there is some reason for optimism, the effects of these teams on work life and communities are not yet clear.