When Distribution of Tasks and Skills Are Fundamentally Problematic: A Failure Story from Global Software Outsourcing

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

Using ethnographic data, we provide a critical reflection on the discrepancies between the application of
agile development principles and the conditions which render these principles effective for global software
development work. This reflection is based on the analysis of a failed collaboration within a global software
project, which relied heavily on feedback from mundane project tools utilized for everyday coordination and
monitoring. Our study reveals that these tools hid serious issues relating to both the distribution of sociotechnical
skills and a discharge of accountability in task execution. As a result, markers of complex
collaborative problems were concealed. Furthermore, the imbalance evident in outsourcing setups, which is
enacted through high and low status task distribution among partners, further compounds collaboration
problems by emphasizing assumptions about remote workers in the absence of direct forms of knowledge
interchange.
Original languageEnglish
Article number74
JournalProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (PACMHCI)
Volume1
Issue numberCSCW
Number of pages16
ISSN2573-0142
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2017

    Research areas

  • distributed work, distribution of socio-technical expertise, ethnography, failure, categories, global software development (gsd), invisible work, task accountability

ID: 186525575