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Managing Globally Distributed Software Development Projects using Virtual

Teams: A Middle East Case Study

Conference Paper · September 2015

DOI: 10.1145/2815782.2815786

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 Managing Globally Distributed Software Development Projects
using Virtual Teams: A Middle East Case Study
Nelson Denhere Tertia Hörne John Andrew van der Poll
School of Computing School of Computing Graduate School of Business
University of South Africa University of South Africa Leadership
Pretoria, South Africa Pretoria, South Africa University of South Africa
ndenhere2000@[Link] hornet1@[Link] Midrand, South Africa
vdpolja@[Link]

ABSTRACT Using virtual teams in information system development projects

This paper examines how globally distributed software has to a large extent been influenced by recent trends such as
development projects are managed in the Middle East. We outline globalisation, the shortage of competent software developers at
the factors that were perceived as important by project managers. the location in which the companies operate, the availability of
We also consider how culture and religion affects the operation of competent software developers in different parts of the world at
virtual teams in a globally distributed software development low cost and advances in telecommunications teams [6]. In other
environment in the Middle East. To understand how these factors words, virtual teams have been brought about by the need for
influence the success of globally distributed software organisations to get projects completed as quickly as possible
development projects in the Middle East, we conducted a while utilising the skills of project team members that are
qualitative research study involving three different companies geographically dispersed. The formation of virtual teams
operating in Dubai, Oman, Abu Dhabi, India and Pakistan. The facilitates the incorporation of a wide range of knowledge and
study indicates that cultural awareness, the use of technology, use expertise possessed by individual members into a collective body
of a common language and applying project management of knowledge needed to conduct effective group problem-solving
techniques positively influence the operation of virtual teams. activities [7].
The use of globally distributed development teams in software
Keywords development increased in recent years. Cusumano [1] observed
Virtual teams, global software development, distributed software that many companies in the USA, Europe and Japan are now
development, collaboration, project management. building or contracting for new software products, components,
and custom-designed systems that will be created in globally
1. INTRODUCTION distributed teams, such as teams in India or China, and
increasingly in Russia, Eastern Europe, South East Asia and Latin
Software project development is increasingly becoming America. However, recent trends have shown that new locations
geographically distributed, especially in today’s global business are emerging as developmental sites. Examples of such locations
environment, with limited face-to-face interaction between in the Middle East include Oman, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar.
developers [1, 2]. The main attraction of these countries is that they are close to the
Arab market.
Virtual teams are becoming more and more common in global
software development projects [3]. Oshri, Kotlarsky, and While many studies have been carried out on the challenges faced
Willcocks [4] observed that most modern software development by globally distributed software projects and possible solutions,
companies use virtual teams in software development projects. there is a lack of qualitative studies that concentrate on software
Virtual software development is the development of software that companies in the Middle East. Naturally, research done in other
involves development teams residing in different countries countries may well not be applicable to the Middle East because
collaborating and performing a variety of tasks, such as planning, of different cultures and work ethics. This called for the need to
controlling, coding, testing, implementation and maintenance, in conduct a research project, focusing on software companies
order to develop new software products and achieve common operating in the Middle East.
project goals [5]. This research is guided by the following research questions.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for Research Questions (RQs)
personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies
are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and
RQ1: What are the factors and variables that influence the
that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. effectiveness of virtual teams in global software development
Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM projects in the Middle East?
must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy RQ2: How do companies in the Middle East organise and
otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists,
manage software development teams in globally distributed
requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions
from Permissions@[Link] '15, September 28-30, 2015, environments to be successful?
Stellenbosch, South Africa © 2015 ACM. ISBN 978-1-4503-3683- This paper is organised as follows: Section 2 describes the
3/15/09…$15.00 DOI: [Link] background and the research methodology is described in Section
3. In Section 4 findings from the case studies are presented and
analysed with some discussion. Sections 5 and 6 provide the issue of tool incompatibility. This is because each site is likely to
conclusion and directions for future work in this area respectively. use different programming languages, operating systems and
development tools [8].
2. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Cooperation within virtual teams is important to project success.
The introduction of the internet, intranets and extranets coupled
Tjørnehøjet et al [5] observed that informal and unplanned
with the relative low cost of telecommunication, facilitated the
communication which is vital to support team collaboration
development of virtual work groups and virtual companies [8].
drastically decreases because of distance. Team members have
This has enabled software development and maintenance to be
little opportunity of getting to know each other on a personal level
undertaken in distributed locations [6]. Some software companies
because of limited or no face-to-face contact. Project managers
are contracting remote third-party companies, while others are
need to devise strategies to ensure that team relationships are
setting up subsidiaries in low-cost economies to do software
developed and fostered. The effect of cultural difference needs to
development and maintenance [8]. This approach is generally
be determined, monitored, and addressed.
known as distributed software development (DSD), global
software development (GSD) or collaborative software 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
development (CSD) [2]. This research adopted a qualitative and interpretive approach.
Qualitative research places the emphasis on seeking to understand
Managing virtual teams in globally distributed software projects is and interpret the meaning of situations or events from the
more difficult and complex than it is in a co-located team. This is perspectives of the people involved [11]. The motive of using a
because there are many factors that introduce barriers and qualitative approach is linked to the nature of the research.
complexity into the management of a globally distributed software Globally distributed software development is a broad and complex
development project [2]. subject and may not be easy to study outside the context in which
it occurs. The researchers aimed to study people, organisational
Communication is mainly electronic with limited face-to-face structures, processes, as well as process-related technologies in a
contact and team members normally have cultural differences that real-life context. To get qualitative data from the people in real-
negatively affect effective communication. This occurs more often life settings required the adoption of a qualitative approach [11].
when the project is distributed internationally and when sites and One of the goals of this research was to explore the challenges
team members do not share a common native language [1, 9]. software project managers face when implementing software
This may result in misinterpretations and misunderstandings development projects using virtual teams. As argued by Myers
among team members [6]. Different cultures may often cause and Newman [12], qualitative research methods are implemented
confusion and frustration [2, 6].This may be caused by different and designed to help a researcher understand the opinions and
work ethics [9]. This leads to decreased conflict-handling views of people and the social and cultural contexts within which
capabilities, lower efficiency or may even compromise a they operate.
distributed software project.
The strategy that was used for gathering data was case study
Coordination, communication, and cooperation are all negatively research. According to Yin [13], a case study examines a
affected by distance [8]. If these are not managed effectively, they phenomenon in its natural setting, to answer how and why
can cause additional barriers and complexity within the project. questions, when the researcher has little control over the events.
Figure 1 indicates that distance can negatively affect coordination The investigation of how virtual teams in globally software
and communication. development environments are managed in the Middle East
fulfills these criteria: it aims to address the question ‘how do
companies in the Middle East organise and manage globally
distributed software development using virtual teams
successfully?’ in a real-life context. The case study method covers
both the phenomenon of interest and its context, producing a large
number of potentially relevant variables [13]. Therefore, a case
study method was chosen as the most appropriate approach for
this research.
Three case studies were conducted in Oman, Dubai and Abu
Dhabi respectively. For each case, the factors that were viewed as
important were studied, as well as the way in which those factors
minimise the negative impact of general challenges faced in
virtual teams as discussed in the background section.
We used semi-structured interviews as the primary source of
information as these allow for sourcing highly personalised data.
The interviews were open-ended to allow the researchers to probe
Figure [Link] impact of distance on virtual team operations[8] for more information and also gave the researchers the flexibility
of rephrasing questions and simplifying a specific question if it
In a global software development environment, project tasks are was complex to understand (refer to appendix A for a sample of
divided and distributed across different sites. Task division and the questions asked). Each respondent was interviewed for one
distribution can make it difficult for software development teams and a half hours and a total of 24 interviews were conducted in
to comprehend a task, its purpose and their own contribution this study. It was also deemed necessary to interview three
towards the overall project [10]. Since software developers are members at a remote site of each case study over the phone. The
sourced from different parts of the world, there is likely to be an three members were selected from India, Pakistan and the United
States of America (USA). To protect the confidentiality, the [16]. The next step of data analysis was to identify the main
names of the companies involved in this research will not be used. categories of the empirical data. This was done by grouping codes
The case studies will be referred to using numbers such as case 1, sharing similar concepts in a higher concept. This categorisation
case 2 and case 3. The characteristics of the case studies are allowed the researcher to remain with fewer units and also
outlined in Table 1. allowed the main themes to emerge from the data
Table 1. Characteristic of the case studies Table [Link] between the studied cases
Number of Differences Case 1 Case 2 Case 3
Interviewee Onshore Offshore
Case individuals
Role Site Site Countries
interviewed India,
involved India, Oman Oman, Dubai
Project Oman, Pakistan and
1 in the and Abu Dhabi and the USA
manager Muscat Oman
Oman, development
Software Indians, Indians, Americans,
Case1 Muscat India 4
developer Culture Omanis and Pakistanis and Emiratis and
Emiratis Omanis Omanis
Systems Oman,
3 Oman and
Analyst Muscat 1½hours time
1 hour Dubai are in
Project difference
Dubai 1 between the same time
manager between India
Pakistan and zone.
Software Time zone and Oman.
Case 2 Dubai 4 Oman. 8 hours time
developer Pakistan difference Oman and Abu
Systems ½ hour difference
Dubai 3 Dhabi is in the
Analyst between India between
same time
and Pakistan. Dubai and the
Project Abu zone.
1 USA
manager Dhabi
Size of the
Software Abu development 10 12 15
USA 4
Case 3 developer Dhabi team
Systems Abu Number of
3
Analyst Dhabi development 3 3 2
teams
In many ways the projects studied were similar. All three cases New product New product New product
Project type
comply with the criteria that guided the case study selection: development development development
 All the cases should be operating in the Middle East Previous
experience
 The development team should be globally distributed across of
at least two locations. collaboration 5 years 15 years 14 years
between
 The development team members should have extensive development
experience in the implementation of both co-sited and teams
globally distributed software development projects.
Project
There were some differences between the three studied cases. 6 months 10 months 8 months
Duration
Those differences are mainly contextual, such as different cultural
backgrounds of the team members, different countries, the number
of years of experience of the remote teams and different time- The last step involved scrutinising the data with the aim of
zones. Table 2 summarises the differences between the studied identifying specific activities that enable the implementation of
cases. the management practices identified in the first phase. Those were
also coded. The relationships between specific activities and
The collected data was analysed qualitatively using elements of associated management practices were established.
the grounded theory method [14, 15]. The primary purpose of
using this approach was to allow the findings of the investigation Once these results began to emerge from the data they were
to emerge from the raw data leading to themes inherent in the raw triangulated with the literature and previous research done in the
data [15]. The data analysis aimed to identify management same area by the researchers. As a result three factors were
practices perceived to be useful for managing distributed software identified as particularly relevant to global software development
development using virtual teams. The data analysis was done in using virtual teams in the Middle East.
several steps. The interview transcripts and documents gathered The next section presents the results of the three case studies.
needed to be read several times to check for multiple meanings in
the text. The transcripts were read independently of each other. 4. FINDINGS
During the process of reading texts, the text describing The data gathered was examined in order to identify as many
management practices was coded using an open-coding technique concepts as possible. During data analysis, the findings were
and were sorted to allow refined themes to emerge from the data classified into 4 high-level categories that focused on different
areas of project management, namely, cross-culture collaboration, each other’s national culture and values, it will help them to
collaborative tools and technology, and flexible project appreciate and interpret the remote team’s behaviour.
management. The reason for this was to attain a reasonable number
of concepts that we could work with, as well as to achieve a good We observed that increasing culture awareness reduces cultural
level of abstraction. In all three cases, a total of 7 factors were clashes and avoids communication breakdown. This was explained
perceived as being important for the success of global software by one respondent (case 2): “I used to wonder how many times
development. The interviews were carried out between October these guys pray per day. To me it was not acceptable leaving the
2013 and December 2014 office three to four times a day to pray. Now that we know that Abu
Dhabi and Oman guys are religious, we provided them with prayer
Most of the factors were identified in all three cases, but some
rooms.”
factors were identified in two of the three cases. Table 3 lists the
factors and shows for each factor in which case it was identified
The Indian project manager allocated to Abu Dhabi acknowledged
(denoted by a +). The factors that were lacking in some cases but
that there used to be problems when all the developers ask several
considered as important by interviewees are shown by ‘-/ needed’.
times per day for permission to leave the office to go and pray in
Empty cells in the table are left for factors where we did not find
the mosque. When the Indian project manager refused to give the
enough evidence to determine whether those factors were in place
developers permission to go and pray, they decided to report the
or lacking.
manager to the government. This resulted in the government
Table 3. Success factors and managerial practices: comparison threatening to take away the working visa of the project manager.
of results across cases When we further investigated this issue, we observed that Muslims
are required to give allegiance to the management if they are
judged to be faithful to the Quran. This was explained by one
Case 1

Case 2

Case 3
Success factors and managerial
respondent in case 1: “Management should be based on Islamic
practices
principles and workers should reject his manager if he or she is not
following Islamic traditions.” The rejection can take the form of
Cross-culture collaboration indirect protection, making success difficult for non-Muslim
Culture awareness + + -/needed managers using non-Islamic principles.
Language + + +
Communication plan + + -/needed Cultural awareness was also linked to communication breakdowns
by several respondents when they acknowledged that cultural
Tools and technology awareness may avoid communication breakdowns. This was
ICT infrastructure + + + explained by one respondent (case 2):“We now avoid scheduling
Cloud-based development tools + + our meetings during prayer times so that our Muslim colleagues
Collaborative tools + + + can attend.”

Project management It was observed that most of the developers based in Oman, Dubai
Planning + + + and Abu Dhabi would not attend a meeting if it was scheduled
Develop project objectives and during prayer time.
+ + +
success measures
It also emerged that virtual software teams need to be aware of
each other’s national public holidays in order to avoid
4.1Cross-Culture Collaboration inconveniences in collaboration between sites. In the Middle East it
is very difficult to determine exactly the day when a public
4.1.1Culture awareness national holiday will be celebrated. This negatively affects cross-
According to our respondents, global software development site communication. During the interview phase it became clear
requires cooperation and collaboration of remote teams located in that the Indian-based team were not always informed when the
different cultural zones. Their operation is greatly impacted by Abu Dhabi and Oman teams were celebrating national public
cultural differences between remote teams. Evidence that emerged holidays.
from this research indicated that management needs to be aware of
the impact of cultural differences on the operation of the software We further investigated the above issue with the teams based in
team. Management needs to implement practices that promote Oman and Abu Dhabi and it emerged that religious holidays are
global-cultural awareness and develop a global mind-set. This dependent on analysing the phases of the moon. One respondent
ought to assist in providing for a conducive working atmosphere in (case 1) explained:“Most religious holidays are determined by the
which virtual teams view themselves as a part of a global team. For Hiijri calendar and the moon. The holiday cannot be declared until
example, one project manager based in Abu Dhabi explained (case the new moon has being spotted by the Moon Sighting Committee.”
3):“We want everyone here to be aware of the Hindi culture, and
everyone in India to be aware of the Muslim culture. Our aim is to
The team based in India explained that a lack of information about
develop one culture that is acceptable to everyone.”He further
public holidays negatively affects the team operation. If team
explained that this assists team members to develop cultural
members are aware that their remote colleagues will be out of
tolerance and to help them view cultural differences as an
office, they will raise urgent issues earlier. One interviewee based
opportunity to learn about other cultures. Communication across
in India (case 1) claimed:”It’s so frustrating to try to contact the
national boundaries will be easier if team members are aware of
remote member on an urgent issue, only to be told that he or she is
differences in native languages, beliefs, religion and values. The
on a public religious holiday. It’s so demotivating. It will be nice if
interviewees acknowledged that if team members are aware of
they can inform us. ”
When asked about how they increase cultural awareness, the commonly used acronyms and lots of documentation. This really
project manager in Abu Dhabi pointed out that everyone in their helps for our team members to have a shared meaning of all those
team has being temporarily assigned to India for a period of one terms.”
month. This was made possible mainly because of relatively
inexpensive travelling costs between India, Abu Dhabi and Oman. 4.1.3 Communication plan
This was in line with what other researchers prescribed as the most
efficient way for cultural interchange between remote teams [8].
Developing a communication plan is vital for effective
When appointing new employees, new recruits undergo cultural
communication in distributed teams. One respondent explained
training as part of the organisation’s induction policy.
that a communication plan is crucial to come up with appropriate
It was observed that there were no major differences between communication strategies that ensure information is provided in the
Omani and Abu Dhabian cultures. Hence, no major cultural right format, at the right time, to the right audience. He also
challenges were observed between these teams. pointed out that a communication plan will be effective if it is
based on the all communication requirements of the team
4.1.2 Language members. This was illustrated by one respondent (case 2):
“Thinking and planning about how we communicate is vital for our
Interviewees agreed that one of the prerequisites for global team. All stakeholders have to contribute since this will help the
software development to succeed is the use of a common language. organisation to come up with communication strategies that satisfy
All participating members in different locations should be everyone.”
proficient in that language. The official language used for day-to-
day operation of the virtual team in all the case studies was Elaborating on a communication plan, a project manager will have
English. Team members in all the locations were required to be the opportunity to think about the appropriate technology the team
able to speak and write in English. Proficiency in English was members will use to communicate and how the project information
viewed by many interviewees as a way to ensure effective will be communicated to the management and various
communication. stakeholders.

The official language in Oman and Abu Dhabi is Arabic. English is Important considerations that may be considered in the
used mainly in the business community and is also taught in communication plan include:
schools as a second language. The official language in India is  Official language to be used
different from state to state. The most widely-spoken language is  How team progress is communicated to team members
Hindi with about 422 million speakers. English is used in the  When to have face-to-face meetings
business community and is also taught in schools as a second  Training that is needed for team members to effectively use
language. the communication technology
In all the three remote locations except the USA, English is not the  What communication technology to use
native language. Teams based in India were viewed as being able  When to use synchronous communication technology and
to write and speak English well. This was confirmed by one when to use asynchronous communication technology.
interviewee (case 1) through a telephone interview:“All guys here
are able to write and speak in English fluently.” The interviewees also pointed out that if a communication plan is
implemented, it helps to avoid communication breakdowns. We
Commenting on the level of competency of the team based in discovered that communication between team members is
Oman and Abu Dhabi, one interviewee (case 3) described them as challenging in the Middle East due to salary and position
mixed. He stated:“You find guys who are really good in English inequalities that are based on gender, race and nationality. Male
and some guys really struggle to speak fluently.” Conversation is nationals always rate higher on the positional scales than their
often carried out in more than one language in meetings. Indian female counterparts. The Western expatriates are paid higher
and Arabic accents were reported as difficulty to understand. This salaries than other [Link] are based on
added to the potential for missed or ambiguous communication. nationality not on qualifications. Western expatriates and local
Teams based in the USA and India encouraged written reporting as Arabs are more likely to be given positions with higher
a means to reduce communication risks. The Arab culture favoured responsibilities than Asians. This was explained by one member
verbal communication; hence they expect any written report to be in case 1: “Here salary does not depend on your experience or
accompanied by a verbal communication. qualification but on where you come from. Western expatriates
The majority of the interviewees echoed the need for training on and locals are paid more than Asians.”
how to communicate effectively. They also encouraged the use of We also discovered that in the Middle East, women are quiet and
simple and precise words when speaking to colleagues in remote reserved, especially when around Muslim men. In addition,
locations. Management (cases1 and 3) decided to send the majority women are not allowed to shake hands with a male. This should
of the team members based in Oman and Abu Dhabi on an not be interpreted as being unfriendly and anti-social. We also
intensive English course. One team member confirmed that the observed that in the Middle East, women who are in management
English course helped him to be able to write and speak English positions normally do not receive the same recognition as a man
fluently. in a similar position. A female project manager in case 2
Many team members interviewed expressed the need for a responded by saying “I felt that my subordinates are undermining
common vocabulary. They felt that embracing a common my position, maybe because I am a female.”While women are
vocabulary was necessary to facilitate a shared understanding of respected, their place in society is generally viewed as one
major organisational terms for project artefacts, acronyms and subservient to men. Consequently, mixed-gender social
procedures. One project manager (case 2) stated:“We make sure interactions are not common.
that during process training, we explain all the key terms,
 A communication plan helps to identify all those potential Shared database + + +
communication challenges that are likely to cause communication
Web access + + +
breakdowns. A communication plan documents the
communication approaches used to satisfy all the communication
requirements of stakeholders [2, 15]. Setting up an appropriate infrastructure was seen as a way to
facilitate the integration since it allows for distributed
The research also revealed that it is important to constantly development work to be brought together. This reduces the impact
conduct an audit on the existing communication processes and of coordination breakdowns. This was explained by one of the
methods. Conducting an audit helps management to evaluate respondents in case 2: “Our network infrastructure allows our
whether existing communication tools and methods assist the developers to share and integrate their development work
team in meeting the project objectives. The communication audit seamlessly.”
should focus on the following:
 Virtual team members who send and receive messages
 The mode of communication
4.2.2 Cloud-based development tools
 The effectiveness of tools used for communication (internet, Cloud-based software development tools include tools for the
telephone, email, video conference etc.) development and management of components, configuration and
 The attitude of team members towards an existing version management tools, as well as tools for testing and tracking
communication plan. bugs [10]. Interviewees perceived that using cloud-based
development tools such as IDEs and code editors in a globally
The communication audit acts as a critical tool used to identify distributed development environment offers a standardised
any problem areas and develop best practices. development platform. This eliminates the need for developers at
different sites to have local IDEs and other development tools.
4.2 Tools and Technology This also helps developers to enforce standard programming
4.2.1 ICT infrastructure models and to ensure that everyone adheres to coding standards,
Having the necessary ICT infrastructure and tools to support thereby producing a quality end product. This was explained by
remote site efforts are important. An ICT infrastructure enables the one respondent in case 2: “In our case, software development
connection between remote teams. This includes physical tasks are distributed across sites. To avoid integration problems,
connectivity, server configuration, application, extranets, we are using cloud-based development tools to make sure that
conferencing tools, as well as network speed and bandwidth. This everyone is using the same development platform. With cloud-
was explained by one respondent (case 2): “The technology is there based development tools we can enforce constraints which ensure
to support virtual teams - there is really no reason to be without it. that all developers adhere to the same coding standards and
Having the right ICT infrastructure is very critical because all our conventions.”
work is based on collaborating with the team in India. If that Interviewees also perceived that using cloud-based development
collaborating link is down then we have no work.” tools eases the coordination of activities. This is because project-
related information such as requirement documentation and
In order to succeed, a global distributed development environment project status reports can be generated by content collaboration
needs a good ICT infrastructure to support the following: spaces incorporated in cloud-based development tools. Using
these tools enables project managers to check the progress of the
 Fast internet: Fast internet enables quick access to the project. This was explained by one respondent when he said:
network by all members in remote locations “Coordination of tasks in various sites is no longer an issue. We
 Extranet: This helps to host a secure project management have enabled content collaboration spaces in a cloud-based
portal development platform mainly for the exchange of project-related
 Screen-sharing tool: This tool allows a developer to share a information between sites. Information such as percentage
screen with a fellow developer in a remote location. Some completion of the project can be generated automatically to
of these tools even allow a team member to control another indicate the performance of each team.”
computer remotely
 Shared Database: Having one central database accessible
over a WAN from remote locations ensures that everyone is 4.2.3 Collaborative tools
working with the latest versions of files and components
Data analysis indicated that the organisations provide a wide
Table 4 shows the requirements for an ICT infrastructure variety of tools for distributed team members to communicate
identified in the studied cases and compares the results of the with their remote colleagues. The communication tools that were
three cases (‘+’ indicates important, and ‘-’ indicates that the provided include telephone, email, chat programs and video chat.
requirement is lacking). Interviewees indicated that while it is important to provide
effective collaborative tools, it is equally important to ensure that
Table 4. Requirements of ICT infrastructure people are equipped with the required skills and are motivated to
Requirement of ICT fully utilise such tools. This was explained by one of the
Case 1 Case 2 Case 3
infrastructure respondents in case 2: “Installing the collaboration tools is
Fast internet + + + important for our organisation. But equally important is to make
people use those tools effectively. People need to be motivated to
Extranet + + + use the tools and they also need appropriate training how to
Screen-sharing tool + + + select the appropriate tool for a given situation.”
Interviewees in all three cases felt that collaboration tools receive the response on Monday. The delay affects our
promoted effective communication between team members. The operation.”Another respondent based in the USA in case 3
tools provide a platform for members to discuss the progress of concurred with the above statement. He stated the following: “It
the project thus facilitating the development of good working takes a lot of time to get a response from email.”
relationships. When good working relationships are developed
between members in distributed teams, people in various sites feel Chat programs: In all three study cases, most interviewees stated
that they are part of a team, thereby improving the team spirit. that in software projects, technical personnel need to share
“All that is required is to create a platform where team members technical artifacts which include software source code,
can communicate freely. When team members are communicating configuration files and test cases. Technical artifacts are difficult
they get to know each other and when they know each other it’s to express verbally, mainly because they are composed of
easy to work as a team.” characters that are not part of a natural spoken language. Text-
based communication is the natural choice for sharing those
Data analysis from the three cases indicated that collaborative technical artifacts. One developer in case 3 stated the following:
tools also provide the means through which team members can “It is very handy to send an email or a chat message for things
communicate the progress of a project to the project manager. like variable names, some codes and technical class names.”
Thus the project manager will be able to control the progress of Many interviewees indicated that they use a chat program to
the project. “When team members are able to talk to each other, communicate with other team members. One developer stated the
it’s easy to control the progress of the project.”Management following: “Google chat is a great tool for quick instant
should ensure that appropriate tools, both synchronous and messaging and for creating a team chat environment.”
asynchronous, are made available to all team members.
Various collaborative tools were used in the three case studies: A chat program was used in all the studied cases. One respondent
stated:“Our guys used a chat program a lot. It is a very useful tool
Email: In all three studied cases, email was used for the for us to communicate.”One advantage cited by the majority of
communication of issues that do not need an immediate response. the team members who use a chat program was that it shows the
It is also used to share calendars. This keeps the remote team people who are currently online. A chat program also allows
informed of the public holidays of the other remote locations. members to write status messages that show whether they are
Office 365TM [2, 8] was used to support such communication in busy, available, or not available.
most of the studied cases. Email was the most frequently used
method of communication in all the cases. This was expressed as Many interviewees indicated that a chat program is regarded as an
follows: “Email is handy because some guys in Oman and Abu informal way of communicating, hence making it possible to
Dhabi are not good in English. With email, it is easy to use neglect communication etiquette such as correct spelling or
translation software to translate from English to Arabic.” grammar. Most of the communication tends to be in shorthand.
The chat program is also used to complement video conferencing
Most interviewees felt that email is necessary and the most as it can be used to ask quick questions without disturbing the
appropriate communication method because of the difference in flow of the meeting. “You can post quick questions to the panel
working days between India, Oman, Abu Dhabi and the USA – without disrupting the flow of the meeting.”
hence the need for an asynchronous communication tool. India’s
working days are Mondays to Saturdays whereas in the USA Many of the interviewees stated that a chat program delivers
working days range from Mondays to Fridays. On the other hand, messages instantly and activates a pop message, thereby alerting
the Middle East has Sundays to Thursdays as working days. As a the recipient of a new message. Many interviewees were happy
result, there are only four common working days among all the with a chat program’s ability to deliver a message promptly,
sites. Communication across sites on Fridays, Saturdays and making it a useful tool to communicate quick questions, viz: “The
Sundays needs to be done via email. chat program that we use is called ‘hangouts’; it allows us to do
group chats. The chat occurs in real time so it’s good for quick
Data analysis of the three case studies also revealed that email communication.”
was the preferred method of communication to distribute team-
wide non-urgent issues. In the three case studies, the organisations We also discovered that the use of SkypeTM is not allowed in
are using project-wide mailing lists to communicate important some Middle Eastern countries. This limits the distributed team on
issues such as the agendas of meetings, minutes of meetings, the choice of tools.
important announcements, and decisions made to everyone
involved in the project. Using email to send information such as Phone calls or video chat: In all three cases, issues that require
the agenda of the next meeting is vital because it allows team an immediate response and that might require further explanation
members to have time to read the agenda and prepare for the are communicated using phone calls or video chat. Video chat
meeting. The majority of the interviewees regarded email as a was preferred because it gives more visual cues. Video chat
formal means of communication. One respondent outlined the allows all participants to see the facial expressions of others. The
benefits of using email: “The beauty of using a mailing list is that one conversing will be able to evaluate whether the
everyone will have a copy of the email. Each member will be able communication was successful or whether further elaboration is
to retrieve the email from their mailbox when they require required with the help of visual cues. The one speaking is seen by
them.”Many people interviewed were of the opinion that team everyone in the meeting which makes it easier to follow basic
members prefer to use email to communicate issues of low meeting practices. One developer in case 2 stated that “Video chat
complexity such as status reports. is good because all participants see each other. This makes it feel
A challenge which was cited by the majority of the respondents like your team members are with you in the room.” Interviewees
was the delay in getting responses. One respondent based in India explained that video chats make participants more attentive in a
stated the following: “If you write an email on Friday, you only meeting. This is because the participants can see each other during
the meeting.
 are committed right from the onset, they are encouraged to
Creating a short video: In case 1, all training sessions were contribute to the work estimates. This was confirmed by the
recorded using a webcam and posted on an extranet. Sharing following comments (case 2): “We do planning together with the
videos were seen by many interviewees in case 1 as expanding guys in India. Everyone is involved and when everyone is
collective knowledge of the dispersed team. This practice includes involved, everyone understands the scope of the project. The fact
sharing videos of the national cultures of remote colleagues and that the guys understand the project and they will have
videos on how to use new technology. Recorded videos are contributed to the planning process, increases the chance of
uploaded on the company extranets when introducing a new completing the project on time. Everyone will be motivated to
technology. complete the work assigned. ”
Table 5 shows the collaborative technologies that were identified
as important for collaboration between remote teams and 4.3.2 Developing project objectives and success
compares the results of the three cases (‘+’ indicates important
and ‘-’ indicates the technology is not mentioned). measures

Table 5. Collaborative technology: Results of the three cases Developing clear project objectives is vital to globally distributed
Collaborative technologies Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 teams. This was explained by one respondent when he said: “To
make everyone understand what needs to be done, we set
Email + + + objectives and it is against those objectives that we measure the
Chat program + + + performance of the team members.”
Phone + + + By setting clear objectives, project milestones are also set in
advance. The project manager should make sure that common
Video chat + + +
objectives are agreed on and understood by all the team members.
Creating short videos + - - Understanding what is expected from them, helps team members
to remain focused. One respondent explained that the success
measures should be measurable, attainable and specific. When
4.3 Project planning project objectives and success measures are set, it is easier to
coordinate activities at different sites. This is because work at
4.3.1 Planning
different sites can now be measured against success measures.
Project planning was identified as an important prerequisite for
the success of distributed software development operations. This Empirical evidence gathered in all three cases indicates that
includes macro and micro planning. Macro planning includes the defining a baseline for key performance metrics, following a clear
way in which tasks are going to be distributed amongst remote but flexible set of procedures, is vital for managing quality in a
teams, as well as setting up major milestones the teams should use distributed software development environment. Analysis and
to guide their activities. This was explained by one respondent in corrective actions should be planned in case actual results deviate
case 1 when he said: ”The product manager in India gives us an from the baseline or expectations.
overall plan and also provides the milestones. Then we sit down Use of collaborative project management tools offers a project
as a team in Abu Dhabi and set up our own plan. Our plan should manager in India a web-based interface to manage project
fit in within the overall plan.” information such as calendars and milestone tracking. This gives
Micro planning is done by each individual team. This includes the project manager a crucial overview of the project status at
assigning tasks to team members and also estimating how long different virtual locations. This also helps the project manager to
each task should take. One respondent in case 2 explained this control the project, thereby facilitating its delivery within an
when he said: “We do the day-to-day planning. Our team leader agreed timeframe.
assigns a task to each team member and we sit down to set the
timeline for each task. The plan we set is obviously derived from 5. CONCLUSION
the overall plan from our boss in India”. The objective of this research was to identify the most important
factors that influence the effectiveness of virtual teams in global
Planning was identified as an area of weakness in the Middle East software development projects in the Middle East. Our study
particularly regarding local project managers. This may be largely revealed that managing distributed software development projects
contributed by the local view of Insha'la – that is, Allah willing. using virtual teams is a difficult task. For these projects to be
Since Allah controls everything, it is He who will cause the successfully managed, several factors need to be considered.
project to either succeed or fail. Therefore, it is not the place for a Cultural issues need to be addressed. We observed that it is
‘mere human’ to concern him- or herself or to interfere. One common practice to remunerate workers based on nationality and
respondent in case 1 based in India explained as follows: “Once not on experience or qualification. While it is expected to base
the contract is signed, the Middle East team expects to see the promotion on experience and qualification, in the Middle East, it
work to begin. Planning is an afterthought.” is considered ethically correct to base promotion on nationality.
Managers need to ensure that all members are aware of the
Interviewees indicated that for project planning to be successful, it cultural and religious differences that exist between members of
is important to include project members from all sites in a different virtual teams. The predominant religion in the Middle
planning session before the onset of the project. This is because East is Islam, hence project managers are encouraged to respect
people are more likely to be committed to a project when they are prayer times of individual team members to avoid cultural clashes.
actively involved. In these planning meetings, tasks can be If possible, prayer rooms should be provided for, and scheduling
identified and assigned to team members. It is vital to make sure
that everyone is aware of task priorities. To ensure that developers
meetings during prayer times should be avoided to allow for □ Creation of cross-cultural and mixed-gender teams
everyone to participate. need to be carefully considered
Our respondents highlighted that one of the prerequisites for
[Link] and Technology
global software development to succeed, is the use of a common
language. All participating members in different locations should ICT Infrastructure (provide the following capabilities)
be proficient in the language chosen. □ Fast internet access
We also identified that having the necessary ICT infrastructure □ Screen-sharing tools
and tools to support remote site efforts is important. ICT □ Extranets
infrastructure enables connection between remote teams. This □ Shared databases
includes physical connectivity, server configuration, applications, □ Web access
extranets, conferencing tools, and high network speed and □ Cloud-based development tools
bandwidth. □ Email
□ Chat programs
Virtual teams involved in global software development should □ Phone
consider using cloud-based development tools, as this offers a □ Video-conferencing
standardised development platform. Project management 4 Project management (tick the action plan)
techniques should be virtual in nature. The use of collaborative
project management tools offers a project manager a web-based □ Involve all the team members in planning
interface to manage project information for calendars and □ Develop project objectives and success measures
milestone tracking. This gives the project manager a crucial □ Assess how planning may be affected by the Inshala
overview of the project status at different virtual locations. (if God willing) religion of the regions involved.

The following presents a checklist that could be used by managers

involved in a globally distributed software development 6. FURTHER RESEARCH
environment in the Middle East. The results of the research provide an insight into the factors that
affect the management of global software development projects in
Checklist for managers of GSD in the Middle East the Middle East.
1. Communication plan and communication process Future research can focus on the specific phases of the
Communication Plan development process. One such phase that has received little
Decide on the following attention is requirements engineering, involving the construction
of requirement specifications.
□Official language to be used
□Communication technology to be used This research highlighted the importance of cultural awareness,
□How the team progress is communicated such as religion, in distributed software development in the
□When to have a face-to face meeting Middle East. The predominant religion in the region is Islam and
□What training is needed for team members to its effect on the operation of virtual teams and globally distributed
effectively use communication technology software development warrants further investigation. It is
□ Training requirements needed by the team anticipated that our work will assist to promote this important
members to communicate fluently in the official issue and provide the basis for further research.
language selected
To further understand the management of distributed software
□ Conduct communication audit
development in the Middle East, research in different Middle
Communication process
Eastern countries and different types of globally distributed
□ Establish a common vocabulary software development, such as Open Source Software
□ Use simple English to communicate development, should be undertaken.
□ Set up extensive English courses for team
members
□ Where possible, use email to communicate (Team
members can use translation tools to translate
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description?
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software development (GSD) environment
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e. What, you do think, is the best management model
0013-3.
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f. To what extent, do you think, project managers are
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 Cultural differences
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 Language barriers
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 Time zone differences
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a. Upon reflection of this conversation, what is your
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