Global Software Engineering: The Future of Socio-technical Coordination

Globally-distributed projects are rapidly becoming the norm for large software systems, even as it becomes clear that global distribution of a project seriously impairs critical coordination mechanisms. In this paper, I describe a desired future for global development and the problems that stand in the way of achieving that vision. I review research and lay out research challenges in four critical areas: software architecture, eliciting and communicating requirements, environments and tools, and orchestrating global development. I conclude by noting the need for a systematic understanding of what drives the need to coordinate and effective mechanisms for bringing it about.