Stakeholders in Global Requirements Engineering: Lessons Learned from Practice Written by Daniela Damian Presented by Misako Kobayashi

Overview Introduction What Enables Global Software Engineering (GSE) How GSE Changed Stakeholder Groups Cultural Differences in Global RE Challenges of the Processes in GSE How to Manage These Challenges Summary and Conclusion

Global Software Engineering (GSE) Enabled By Advanced communication technologies Growing business opportunities o Proximity to clients o Outsourcing o Round-the-clock development These factors that are driving GSE (proximity to clients, outsourcing, round-the-clock development) create even more challenges

Figure A: Business Models in GSE

How GSE Changed Stakeholder Groups Remarkable diversification Increase the number of stakeholder groups at different sites Additional stakeholder groups (field personnel or analyst) Separation between: o those knowledgeable of the client's applications domain and users' needs o project execution team

Figure 1: Stakeholder Groups in GSE

Cultural Differences Ethnic or national o Language o Attitude toward hierarchy o Communication style Organizational

Processes Needed for Shared Understanding in RE Knowledge-acquisition and knowledge-sharing processes Iterative processes Effective communication and coordination processes These processes face unique challenges when performed in GSE

Challenges of RE in GSE Knowledge acquisition and sharing processes o Designer (analyst) has less opportunity to seek out relevant knowledge o Knowledge sharing across sites is difficult Iterative processes o Aligning RE processes and tools is difficult Effective communication and coordination processes o Informal communication for relationship buidling is hard o Only using formal channel and/or asynchronous channels can cause problems o When the requirements change, other stakeholder in different sites do not receive the information effectively

How to Manage these Challenges Supporting interorganizational structure o Define communication of responsibility for the project o Establish peer-to-peer links o Partially synchronize interorganizational processes and perform frequent iterations and deliveries o Establish cultural liaisons Supporting communication practice o Use synchronous Internet communication technology (such as net meeting) o Maintain open communication lines o Frequently inform and monitor progress

Summary New global business models created new groups of geographically and culturally diverse stakeholders Cultural differences can be o Ethnic o Organizational - More Important Identified 3 practices of shared understanding in RE: o knowledge acquisition/sharing o iterative processes o effective communcations These practices face unique challenges in GSE; the author recognizes several strategies to overcome these challenges with interorganizational structuring and effective communication practices

References Damian, Daniela. "Stakeholders in Global Requirements Engineering: Lessons Learned from Practice". IEEE Software. March/April pp

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