ABSTRACT Background After the pandemic, software engineers were forced to work remotely, in many cases without prior experience of doing so. Objective The objective of this work is to analyze the factors that influence engineers' motivation, stress and performance when working remotely after the pandemic, and to what level. Methods A significant number (around 1000) of Latin‐American software development professionals from different countries who work remotely were surveyed in order to study the factors that affect them and how when they work in this manner. The data collected from the survey were then statistically analyzed using the partial least square‐structural equation modeling (PLS‐SEM) method. Conclusions The analysis of the data made it possible to conclude that there are direct negative effects of stress on performance and direct positive effects of motivation on performance. In addition, we found that skills, experience, and teamwork behavior, such as trust, communication, and knowledge sharing, play an important role when working remotely.

Abstract Enterprise architecture is a growing trend that aims to help deal with the complexity of socio‐technical systems such as human organizations, as well as their information technology and systems areas. Nevertheless, the contribution of enterprise architecture to the field of software engineering remains unclear. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to see how enterprise architecture is used in software development and maintenance practice. To this end, we first carried out a search in the SCOPUS database and then organized the papers according to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge to determine what areas of software engineering are covered by each research study. To understand how enterprise architecture is used, we established a classification based on ISO 42010 and TOGAF. From the systematic literature review, we noticed that the early stages of development are the most impacted by the enterprise architecture. On the other hand, we observed that enterprise architecture is of assistance in the areas of engineering management, engineering processes, and engineering models and methods; these tasks are carried out by teams or managers using different, often agile, development methods or standards. In turn, we found that the most common categories are architecture descriptions; these are often used to facilitate communication and information‐sharing between different stakeholders, in addition to frameworks, which will help to establish common practices in the organization related to the joint use of enterprise architecture and software development.

Abstract The objective of this study is to analyze the current perspective as regards knowledge related to what causes stress or motivates developers, how these two aspects are related to each other, and how this in turn affects their performance in the sphere of Global Software Development and how these can be controlled. This paper presents the results obtained after conducting a systematic mapping study of literature in order to analyze how stress, motivation, and performance affect the project members in Global Software Development teams. We carried out a systematic mapping of published studies dealing with stress, motivation, and performance in global software engineering. A total of 118 papers dealing with this subject were found. The literature analyzed provided a relatively significant quantity of data referring to the impact that the characteristics of distributed software development projects have on the performance and productivity of teams, along with the actions taken to improve that performance. However, when focusing on the analysis of the impact of this type of projects on team members' motivation, and on the actions that can be taken to improve that motivation, we discovered that the number of works decreases considerably and that works referring to the impact of this kind of development on developers' stress were virtually non‐existent, as were those concerning ways in which to improve that stress. We are, therefore, of the opinion that it is necessary to carry out in‐depth research into the aspects of working in distributed teams that may have a negative impact on developers' levels of motivation and stress, along with what could be beneficial in order to improve levels of motivation and decrease levels of stress.

Project managers tend to confront multiple challenges in Global Software Development (GSD), including misunderstandings about the project requirements, complex estimations of costs, risks, and efforts, along with increases in task allocation and a lack of coordination. “Soft skills” play a fundamental role in solving these challenges, as they are the human or social abilities that facilitate the resolution of conflicts and involve dealing with people and managing projects in their most social and creative dimension. However, developing the soft skills that allow project managers to lead in an effective manner is not an easy task, especially in global or distributed environments, where coordination and control problems are commonplace. One suitable mechanism with which to develop these soft skills is that of serious games, which focus on learning by doing and allow users to simulate real scenarios. The authors of this article are aware of the usefulness of this type of teaching method and have, therefore, developed the serious game described herein. This serious game is denominated as Global Manager and is focused on helping both students and novice project managers to become aware of the factors that may affect GSD projects. Global Manager was evaluated by means of a quasi-experiment based on a pretest-posttest design, which was used to assess whether the game can increase the players’ awareness and knowledge of the factors that a project manager should consider in GSD projects. The results obtained after evaluating the game were quite satisfactory, as the game taught the players to differentiate between global and distributed software projects and to experience situations that may and do occur in these settings. Furthermore, Global Manager helped improve players' perceptions of the importance of different influencing factors in GSD.

Together with many success stories, promises such as the increase in production speed and the improvement in stakeholders’ collaboration have contributed to making agile a transformation in the software industry in which many companies want to take part. However, driven either by a natural and expected evolution or by contextual factors that challenge the adoption of agile methods as prescribed by their creator(s), software processes in practice mutate into hybrids over time. Are these still agile? In this article, we investigate the question: what makes a software development method agile? We present an empirical study grounded in a large-scale international survey that aims to identify software development methods and practices that improve or tame agility. Based on 556 data points, we analyze the perceived degree of agility in the implementation of standard project disciplines and its relation to used development methods and practices. Our findings suggest that only a small number of participants operate their projects in a purely traditional or agile manner (under 15 percent). That said, most project disciplines and most practices show a clear trend towards increasing degrees of agility. Compared to the methods used to develop software, the selection of practices has a stronger effect on the degree of agility of a given discipline. Finally, there are no methods or practices that explicitly guarantee or prevent agility. We conclude that agility cannot be defined solely at the process level. Additional factors need to be taken into account when trying to implement or improve agility in a software company. Finally, we discuss the field of software process-related research in the light of our findings and present a roadmap for future research.

The emergence of Global Software Development (GSD) has led to certain difficulties in the life cycle of global projects, in addition to the traditional challenges of collocated development, particularly as regards Project Management (PM). These difficulties are caused by the geographical, linguistic and cultural distance among the members of the team, signifying that the project manager requires special skills with which to mitigate these issues. Bearing this in mind, this paper describes a serious game (SG), denominated as GLOBAL-MANAGER, whose objective is to provide training in the management of GSD projects. The game attempts to develop several skills in its players whilst simultaneously providing them with an immersive, pleasant and attractive experience. The skills developed are related to coordination, communication and control, which are three of the principal challenges in GSD.

Abstract Global software development (GSD) has become a rising software development model in the last few years. Although much research has been performed in terms of GSD management, GSD governance research is scarce at the present time and presents multiple challenges that need to be addressed. In this paper, a systematic mapping study has been conducted, the aim of which was to discover the main issues dealt with in GSD governance literature, as well as to point out the particular research gaps that are still present in this domain. This allowed us to find out new challenges to be addressed, along with possible solutions to these. The results reveal a lack of research in key aspects such as tools, culture, people, and information, all of which provides a great opportunity for future approaches while also highlighting new opportunities in GSD governance research.

Global Software Development (GSD) is currently a strong industry trend. This means that if computer science engineers are to be trained to deal with this model, it is very important to include the topic in software engineering courses, attempting to ensure that students learn about GSD and become familiar with its advantages and challenges. However, software engineering courses do not always consider including it in their curricula. It must also be recognized that it is difficult to find a suitable method to teach/develop the different skills needed for GSD. There is often a lot of content and not a great deal of time available to teach it. In this article, we propose the use of a serious game called GSD-Aware, with which students can “suffer” some of the typical challenges of GSD by interacting with avatars and by using several means of communication to solve a number of problems posed. The article focuses on the description of the game and on the empirical study conducted to analyze whether GSD-Aware helps students to be conscious of GSD challenges. It was discovered that after 50 minutes playing the game, the students were aware of the greater influence that the following factors can have: lack of coordination, lack of trust, cultural differences, lack of face-to-face and informal communication, time difference, and lack of team spirit. In their final analysis, students agreed that the serious game scenarios helped them to understand what GSD is and to grasp the importance of some GSD challenges.

Context: One of the chief challenges of Global Software Development (GSD) is for globally, culturally and linguistically diverse team members to communicate effectively. Failing to meet this challenge can lead to misunderstandings that impede project success. To prepare practitioners for remote and diverse forms of communication we have developed VENTURE: a simulation-based training platform that aims to increase cultural awareness.

The evaluation of educational approaches is frequently challenging as it involves humans and requires the consideration of several angles depending on the educational objectives. On occasions, these objectives involve academic and industrial environments, thus implying additional challenges. Education in Global Software Development (GSD) has recently became important for companies that offer GSD training in specific GSD areas such as cultural, linguistic, leadership, negotiation or communication skills. We have developed a training framework based on simulation with the aim of providing GSD interaction training. This framework addresses various kinds of problems related to communication barriers. However, discovering the needs and requirements of both academia and industry is a key success factor when seeking an effective educational solution. This paper presents a multi-phased methodology that has been employed to: 1) research the training requirements in the field; 2) design the training framework based on these findings; 3) evaluate the adequacy of the framework using an Expert Feedback study and a subsequent Heuristic Evaluation; 4) prove that the framework can actually generate learning; 5) conduct a market-focused study to evaluate the commercial options of the framework and 6) define future work to fulfil commercial requirements and improve effectiveness.

Universities are starting to offer courses in Global Software Development (GSD) as a way to prepare future practitioners for challenges found in organizational settings. Companies also provide GSD training especially to new recruits who might lack skills in how to effectively communicate with people from different cultures and different first languages. However this training is costly and not necessarily tailored to the specific needs of the organization or individual practitioner. With a focus on GSD education, we have developed a training framework based on simulation that addresses different kinds of GSD problems. The framework allows course leaders to design training scenarios to fit their precise needs for improved communication and cultural awareness. This paper presents a market-focused study aimed at discovering the requirements for a commercial GSD education tool. We studied the market options, identified key stakeholders, and conducted interviews with senior managers from three multinational companies. The study helped us to gain a deeper understanding of current training trends, needs and gaps according to key stakeholders. Finally, outcomes provided us with directions for future tool development. Results indicate that industry find cultural differences a more pressing problem than linguistic differences. Although industry tends to use traditional (classroom based) training methods for raising cultural awareness, they perceive that interaction simulation is a viable alternative. Performance and potential cost savings are key drivers for commercialising prototype tools. Conducting market-focussed research can help to ensure our future research is relevant, and meets the needs of industry.

Simulation has been applied in several Software Engineering fields, and is shown to be a useful method in industrial training. As part of our research work, we have used simulation to provide training in Global Software Development (GSD). We have developed a platform to strengthen GSD skills by simulating realistic settings in which learners interact with Virtual Agents of differing cultures. Thus, learners will experience multi-cultural problems and will develop specific GSD communication skills. The development of these skills must, however, be accurately assessed, bearing in mind that the training is aimed at learners with different characteristics and skills. In this paper we present an assessment process based on educational theory adapted to our simulation-based training environment. Methods to minimize the instructors' effort and tailor the assessment to specific training needs are proposed. The assessment process has been evaluated by 34 potential users. Results indicate that the assessment method yields meaningful results and proof of learning. Also that automated assessment can be achieved with minimal intervention from the instructor. Though tailored for GSD, this method could be applied to other domains, in both industry and academia.

One of the current approaches to software engineering is Component-based Software Engineering (CBSE). As its name implies, CBSE has to do with the development of open and distributed systems by assembling a set of components. However in practice it is difficult to follow the characteristics demanded by this working philosophy because when developers want to update or modify a component, they do not have the required and sufficient information to determine the degree of impact that a change will have. In order to understand the management of components in CBSE ten experts in software development were interviewed. With the information obtained, the requirements for a system that we call Component Presence Notifier were defined. This system supports the extraction of information from different repositories of the organization and presents it as elements of a graphical user interface (GUI). This information is provided to the developer while working with any of the registered components in order to increase his/her awareness of the impact of the proposed modification. As future work, this prototype will be evaluated for usability by a group of distributed software developers.

SUMMARY This paper tackles the need for universities and practitioners to train their students and engineers in the new challenges that global software development entails, which are principally related to communication, collaboration and cultural differences. Teaching the necessary skills requires practical experience. However, training in educational environments is difficult, and some challenging issues must still be confronted. We have focused our work on the development of a virtual training environment that can simulate global software development scenarios involving virtual agents (VAs) from different cultures. The VAs interact with learners, who use typical communication tools to solve predefined problems. This environment considers common problems caused by distance and cultural differences when using English as a means of communication. It allows learners to train at any time, because the VAs are always available, and it also permits them to play different roles in the various stages of the project. In this paper, we depict the design and development of the tool, as well as an initial evaluation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In this paper we propose an educational framework for designing training courses which focus specifically on the problems entailed in Global Software Development (GSD). The main issues involved are related to cultural, language and communication problems. The principal element of the framework is VENTURE; a virtual training tool that enables learners to get immersed in realistic GSD scenarios. Using this tool, learners will come face to face with collaborative, organizational and technical problems of GSD by interacting with virtual participants in a simulation of people working together from locations that are distant from each other. By means of this framework we also establish the theoretical contents and procedures which would customize the courses for use in university settings or Master programs. We therefore consider that VENTURE is a suitable platform for developing the students' skills in GSD and we believe that it will allow them to deal with real-world problems, thereby minimizing the effort and costs involved in course design.

Global Software Development (GSD) is a recent trend that allows team members to be located on different remote sites, thus forming a network of virtual teams working on the same projects which confront the typical problems caused by distance. The stakeholders involved in the project must be trained to deal with communication difficulties such as those related to cultural and language differences or the appropriate use of groupware tools when English is used as the lingua franca. We present a simulator which allows universities and companies to train students or inexpert engineers in the new challenges introduced by GSD, thus avoiding the problems that this activity entails in real settings. Our proposal places non-native English speakers in predefined virtual GSD scenarios in which they will interact with virtual agents of different cultures that play different roles in the project.

The lack of face-to-face interaction in Distributed Software Development (DSD) projects is a great obstacle for informal communication, which is the way in which we normally discover more about the co-workers along with building trust. Since we are attempting to reinforce the team spirit and improve trust between co-workers, we have analyzed what information software engineers consider to be important to know about their virtual colleagues. In this paper we describe the preliminary results obtained from this study and outline the features of a tool, called Trusting Social Network, with which to support DSD and help stakeholders to know each other better.

A framework (methods and tool) for training and developing skills needs in global software development.

In recent years, the evolution of Global Software Development (GSD) has grown both rapidly and significantly, and although the efficiency of this new type of development has been proven, some challenging issues must still be confronted. Of all these, our research line is focused on designing the specific training that members of virtual teams must receive. Universities and companies therefore need to design training schemas to deal with the specifics of GSD, which are principally related to communication difficulties and time and cultural differences. In this work we present the findings of a Systematic Literature Review in the field of GSD training and teaching. Our intention is twofold: on the one hand we wish to discover the existing strategies and proposals available up to the present day, and on the other hand we wish to identify the open challenges, that will be helpful for practitioners and researchers in the future.

The current challenges in Global Software Development (GSD) necessitate support from software tools with special features. In this work, we explain which features are desirable for these tools in the context of GSD and how these features are related to the principal challenges in this environment. We shall therefore present a survey of the tools that provide these features. The tools included in the survey were classified through the use of the ISO/IEC 12207 standard processes to determine which process is supported by each tool. A classification of the tools according to their features is also included, in which the specific features of each tool are shown.

One important tendency in software development has been the globalization of its industry. Software developers are frequently required to work in groups which are distributed throughout multiple geographic locations. People and processes (e.g. software design) are consequently distributed. Providing the support that will allow distributed software developers to collaborate at a convenient moment, is therefore extremely complicated both for the person making contact and the person being contacted. We therefore propose a characterization and a model of collaborative working spheres (CWS) through which to understand the management of activities in distributed software development (DSD). Our work first aims to characterize DSD activities mainly through a survey of literature. We then describe a projected scenario to illustrate how DSD activities can be supported by technology and finally we propose a characterization of CWS through which to represent how DSD workers can collaborate at a moment which is suitable for all involved participants.

Global software development projects deal with a variety of challenges, particularly those concerning communication and language differences. Bearing this in mind, processes that are crucially based on communication, such as requirements elicitation, must be specially rethought to minimize critical situations. Since effective communication would help to reduce misunderstandings among stakeholders, and therefore help to achieve more committed requirements, we propose a framework for global requirements elicitation focused on minimizing the most frequent problems in GSD. Both the proposal and the preliminary results of a controlled experiment are presented in this paper.

Improving communication and knowledge sharing are the main challenges in global software development projects. Since stakeholders in such environments must communicate by means of groupware tools, our research focuses on analyzing peoplepsilas preferences, according to their cognitive characteristics, in order to discover behaviour patterns that will help us to define the best choice for them. In this paper we present a methodology for groupware selection for a given group of people, along with some preliminary results of a controlled experiment.

This paper presents a recommendation algorithm with which to recommend Knowledge Objects within a Community of Practice (CoP). It is based on a trust model that takes into account not only previous experience of a Knowledge Source, but also the position of the respective member in the community, along with that member's level of expertise. Furthermore, the system attempts to emulate the principle of human intuition. The combination of these factors, which can be adjusted by means of weight factors, enables the system to make decisions based on a calculated trust value even if a new member is introduced into the community or the entire community is newly created. To demonstrate the capabilities of this algorithm, a tool employing a multi-agent architecture has been developed which is also presented.

Knowledge is a key asset in software engineering. Facilitating access to the knowledge that software engineers require for the task at hand can therefore bring many benefits. To accomplish this, it is important to understand how knowledge flows through the organization, to identify problems that may hinder a suitable flow, and to define strategies with which to address them. Process modeling has proved to be a useful technique for analyzing knowledge flows. Traditional process modeling languages do not, however, provide primitives to explicitly represent the knowledge involved in the processes within the models. In this paper, we illustrate how the Software Process Engineering Metamodel (SPEM) can be adapted, to be used as a process modeling language for analyzing knowledge flows in software processes. We have extended SPEM to represent knowledge and its sources in process models in an explicit way. We also discuss the experiences obtained from using this extension in a software organization and the lesson we have learned from it.

The requirements elicitation process is that which is the most critical in software development. For this reason it is necessary to train professionals in the skills needed to confront this process. Traditionally this has not been an easy task and with the arrival of new paradigms such as Global Software Development (GSD) it has become more difficult. It thus becomes necessary to rely on new methods and tools which should support this process in a GSD environment. In this work we outline the characteristics of a simulator for the education and training of global requirements engineering and indicate the competences that this simulator would allow us to develop.

In this paper we summarize a study to define the competencies that a GSD engineer should have in order to face the problems of working with people of different customs and using technology to communicate.

Developing knowledge management systems is a complicated task since it is necessary to take into account how the knowledge is generated, how it can be distributed in order to reuse it, and other aspects related to the knowledge flows. On the other hand, many technical aspects should also be considered such as what knowledge representation or retrieval technique is going to be used. To find a balance between both aspects is important if we want to develop a successful system. However, developers often focus on technical aspects, giving less importance to knowledge issues. In order to avoid this, we have developed a model to help computer science engineers to develop these kinds of systems. In our proposal we first define a knowledge life cycle model that, according to literature and our experience, ponders all the stages that a knowledge management system should give support to. Later, we describe the technology (software agents) that we recommend to support the activities of each stage. The article explains why we consider that software agents are suitable for this end and how they can work in order to reach their goals. Moreover, a prototype that uses these agents is also described.

Global software development projects face up a variety of challenges respect to communication and control that need to be solved or, at least, minimized. For that reason, processes crucially based on communication, like software requirements elicitation; have to be rethought in such a new context. Since requirement elicitation is a human-centred process, we propose using techniques from the field of cognitive psychology to define a strategy for selecting technology. With this goal, this paper introduces our approach and illustrates how cognitive styles might be used to improve a distributed process by selecting suitable groupware tools and elicitation techniques according to the characteristics of stakeholders

Different proposals exist to represent the software maintenance process. However most of them are very informal or too focussed on a specific goal. We have developed a semi-formal ontology where the main concepts, according to the literature related to software maintenance, have been described. This ontology, besides representing static aspects, also represents dynamic issues related to the management of software maintenance projects. In order to develop an ontology a suitable methodology should also be followed. REFSENO was the methodology used in this work. The ontology that this work presents is not a preliminary idea but it has already been used in software maintenance environments, such as MANTIS, which is currently working successfully.

We describe the use of a simulated student in a synchronous but distributed collaborative learning environment in the domain of programming. The role of the simulated student is to detect and repair difficulties in collaborative learning amongst the human students, for example when a human student is too passive or when the students start chatting about off-topic conversations. The simulated student intervenes by posting messages in the shared "chat" window, just like the human students and was believed to be another human student by them. The paper describes the rules by which the simulated student operates and briefly outlines an evaluation of the system with university first year programming students. The system proved to be successful both in detecting a range of difficulties and in intervening effectively.