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

TY - JOUR

T1 - When Distribution of Tasks and Skills Are Fundamentally Problematic

T2 - A Failure Story from Global Software Outsourcing

AU - Matthiesen, Stina

AU - Bjørn, Pernille

PY - 2017/11

Y1 - 2017/11

N2 - Using ethnographic data, we provide a critical reflection on the discrepancies between the application ofagile development principles and the conditions which render these principles effective for global softwaredevelopment work. This reflection is based on the analysis of a failed collaboration within a global softwareproject, which relied heavily on feedback from mundane project tools utilized for everyday coordination andmonitoring. Our study reveals that these tools hid serious issues relating to both the distribution of sociotechnicalskills and a discharge of accountability in task execution. As a result, markers of complexcollaborative problems were concealed. Furthermore, the imbalance evident in outsourcing setups, which isenacted through high and low status task distribution among partners, further compounds collaborationproblems by emphasizing assumptions about remote workers in the absence of direct forms of knowledgeinterchange.

AB - Using ethnographic data, we provide a critical reflection on the discrepancies between the application ofagile development principles and the conditions which render these principles effective for global softwaredevelopment work. This reflection is based on the analysis of a failed collaboration within a global softwareproject, which relied heavily on feedback from mundane project tools utilized for everyday coordination andmonitoring. Our study reveals that these tools hid serious issues relating to both the distribution of sociotechnicalskills and a discharge of accountability in task execution. As a result, markers of complexcollaborative problems were concealed. Furthermore, the imbalance evident in outsourcing setups, which isenacted through high and low status task distribution among partners, further compounds collaborationproblems by emphasizing assumptions about remote workers in the absence of direct forms of knowledgeinterchange.

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

U2 - 10.1145/3139336

DO - 10.1145/3139336

M3 - Journal article

SN - 2573-0142

VL - 1

JO - Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction

JF - Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction

IS - CSCW

M1 - 74

ER -