4.2. Globally Distributed Development

Global development has become the de facto approach to enterprise software delivery. The economic pressures facing all organizations require a global view of where to look for opportunities to reduce costs, efficiently obtain vital skills, and locate delivery centers in relation to the markets they serve [49]. Single, centralized enterprise delivery organizations are a thing of the past.¹ Enterprise software delivery organizations should expect to work with individuals and teams in many locations, operate in a variety of working relationships and structures, and involve different organizations during the development and delivery of a system.

1. A few special exceptions remain (e.g., in sensitive government and military domains). Even there, however, we are seeing interesting collaborative approaches, such as the US Department of Defense’s use of collaborative project delivery platforms such as forge.mil (http://forge.mil).