A Process Research Framework - Software Engineering Institute ...

Where higher levels of integration have been successful, integration is,nevertheless, normally organized around development life-cycle stages.For example, requirements development and design are completed onthe same site. Then implementation and testing are accommodated ondifferent sites. True blending of team members across split sites is verymuch in the minority.5Many companies run projects across sites in different countries.Research is being conducted, but it is still quite limited in comparison tothe wide use of global development today, based on the searches mentionedof the ISI database. Some key areas of research may be identifiedand exemplified with some of the articles found. Research areas include• coordination of global development (e.g., [Carmel 2001,Hersleb 2003, Smite 2004, Smite 2005])• virtual teams (e.g., [Jacobs 2005, Sakthivel 2005])• agile development (e.g., [Reeves 2004, Rottman 2006,Tiwana 2004]).• a number of articles were identified when searching for“outsourcing” (e.g., [Kishore 2004, Dayanand 2001,Bhatnagar 1997])Global software development and outsourcing is a worldwide trend,and research is catching up with it. Evidence to support this conclusioninclude the inception of a new conference devoted to global development(ICGSE), ACM’s report on the topic, and the increasing frequencyat which articles on the topic are published (much more frequentlythan 10 years ago). Having said this, the amount of research into globalsoftware development and outsourcing is still low in comparison to theextent in which it is practiced in industry.5.4 Characterizing the Desired State of thePracticeIn this state, small and large organizations live together in harmonyand have culturally infused process awareness. Federations of smallorganizations tend to grow in response to project needs. As the projectscomplete, the federations reduce in size. Even large organizations tendto manage themselves around a federated system. The need for processin this environment is unquestioned. In fact, process compliance is amandatory requirement for entry onto the “register of suppliers.”Continuous process improvement is a regular practice at organizations.Education, training, and professional awareness support the aboveconcepts. Integrated process standards, including other disciplines andbusiness processes for different domains are common. Emerging processesfor systems engineering of global-scale complex and adaptiveIPRC Framework | Theme P 43