Lessons in global software development – local to global transition within a regulated environment

Abstract

In this paper we use an established framework as a focusing tool to provide a summary of the first author’s experiences of GSD in an “Information System” (IS) team of a global supplychain-management company operating within a regulated environment. While the transition to a GSD configuration was transformational, and introduced an exciting multi-cultural working environment, we discuss several problematic areas and the processes which were employed to successfully resolve them. Some focus is also given to the economic recession, how that has shaped the GSD configuration within the company, and again the processes implemented to meet the changing team dynamics.