A Decision Model for Supporting Task Allocation Processes in Global Software Development
This work addresses project management challenges for software development teams operating in a global context, but it appears incremental as it builds on existing approaches without claiming major breakthroughs.
The authors tackled the problem of task allocation in global software development by introducing a decision support model that systematically considers multiple criteria, aiming to improve management processes in distributed projects.
Today, software-intensive systems are increasingly being developed in a globally distributed way. However, besides its benefit, global development also bears a set of risks and problems. One critical factor for successful project management of distributed software development is the allocation of tasks to sites, as this is assumed to have a major influence on the benefits and risks. We introduce a model that aims at improving management processes in globally distributed projects by giving decision support for task allocation that systematically regards multiple criteria. The criteria and causal relationships were identified in a literature study and refined in a qualitative interview study. The model uses existing approaches from distributed systems and statistical modeling. The article gives an overview of the problem and related work, introduces the empirical and theoretical foundations of the model, and shows the use of the model in an example scenario.