Economic benefits, manpower availability, and round-the-clock development, are resulting in increased global development and maintenance of software applications. Evidence all around us clearly indicates that large-scale software development is continuing to evolve from a single-site activity to a multi-site, distributed activity and in many cases to an enterprise-wide, multi-country activity. But is this apparent transition without serious stakeholder problems? Empirical data suggests that multi-site activity tends to increase development cycle time. Extended development times are often directly attributed to problems in communications, inter-site coordination, process and project management issues, and a myriad of other technical issues. These difficulties become exacerbated when multi-site activity spans national and cultural boundaries. Although economics is almost always offered as the most recognizable rationale in support of off-shore development, companies engaged in Global Software Development (GSD) report widely varying experiences: both positive and negative. Challenges faced while developing software globally appears to span a breadth of issues that include multi-cultural communications, process and project coordination, geographic distribution of persons and facilities, and lack of a consistent supporting infrastructure. This paper formulates and defines principles of success for developing software projects globally.
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