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A Framework for Agile Global Software Development:the Case of an International Software Company in Egypt


Affiliations
1 Computer Science Department, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
 

Objectives: Presenting the results of an Egyptian branch of an international company as a case study. The existing gap in the knowledge types and the impact of the lack interaction was investigated within the structure of the company team. Methods: This study is an exploratory case study. To enhance the data collection process and to answer the study’ questions, the following three phases were performed: interviews, online survey, and interviews. A descriptive statistical analysis and ischolar_main – cause analysis were used to analyze the online survey in quantitative and qualitative attributes and a general framework coding for a thematic analysis to analyze the interviews. Finding: The results explore that: (1) the current structure of the Egyptian branch of an international company case study distributed teams faces an existing gap in the knowledge types (domain, technical, and application). (2) The existing gap in both of domain and technical knowledge leads to a gap in the application knowledge. (3) The lack of using qualified document, recording audio and video meetings between the distributed teams, Co-located practice, wikis (asynchronous tool) besides email, and the yearly planned formal training and training course create ischolar_main causes for the existing knowledge gap. (4) Qualified document is standardized and contains the both test cases and user stories. (5) Recording audio and video meetings between the distributed teams especially in complex project is an excellent feedback. (6) The strategy of the Co-located practice, where the designers (offshore members) travel to collocate with Client engagement team (onshore team) during the requirements document preparing, is preferred by the most participants than the opposite. Application/Improvement: Capturing the existing gap in knowledge types for the agile partial offshoring model will lead to improving this model. Which increase the software quality and decrease delivery time and cost for international software development companies and software development’ clients.
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  • A Framework for Agile Global Software Development:the Case of an International Software Company in Egypt

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Authors

Taghreed A. A. Motawi
Computer Science Department, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
Amr Kamel
Computer Science Department, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
Hesham Hassan
Computer Science Department, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract


Objectives: Presenting the results of an Egyptian branch of an international company as a case study. The existing gap in the knowledge types and the impact of the lack interaction was investigated within the structure of the company team. Methods: This study is an exploratory case study. To enhance the data collection process and to answer the study’ questions, the following three phases were performed: interviews, online survey, and interviews. A descriptive statistical analysis and ischolar_main – cause analysis were used to analyze the online survey in quantitative and qualitative attributes and a general framework coding for a thematic analysis to analyze the interviews. Finding: The results explore that: (1) the current structure of the Egyptian branch of an international company case study distributed teams faces an existing gap in the knowledge types (domain, technical, and application). (2) The existing gap in both of domain and technical knowledge leads to a gap in the application knowledge. (3) The lack of using qualified document, recording audio and video meetings between the distributed teams, Co-located practice, wikis (asynchronous tool) besides email, and the yearly planned formal training and training course create ischolar_main causes for the existing knowledge gap. (4) Qualified document is standardized and contains the both test cases and user stories. (5) Recording audio and video meetings between the distributed teams especially in complex project is an excellent feedback. (6) The strategy of the Co-located practice, where the designers (offshore members) travel to collocate with Client engagement team (onshore team) during the requirements document preparing, is preferred by the most participants than the opposite. Application/Improvement: Capturing the existing gap in knowledge types for the agile partial offshoring model will lead to improving this model. Which increase the software quality and decrease delivery time and cost for international software development companies and software development’ clients.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.17485/ijst%2F2018%2Fv11i25%2F127485