Editorial Pointers

Globalization, for all its business benefits, has forced many software developers to adapt their development processes to keep up with changing operational circumstances. As a result, many organizations have turned to globally distributed software development (GSD) to share the load but find it comes with its own problems. Will a solution be found in agile methods, as some would suggest? Agility, by its nature, promotes communication, flexibility, and teamwork but it’s far from infallible. Meanwhile, traditional plan- and productivity-based software development methods also reflect a history of overshot budgets, missed deadlines, and overrated quality.

This month’s special section focuses on the challenges of creating quality systems and services when the very people responsible for doing it may be located around the world, often sharing little in common but the company name on their paychecks. Guest editors Pär ögerfalk and Brian Fitzgerald of the University of Limerick contend flexibility and the ability to adapt to changing circumstances are necessary regardless of global distribution. They open the section with an introduction that weaves a virtual panel debate on the challenges of GSD as well as the strengths and weaknesses of agility, flexibility, and globalization. Sharing their own observations are David Parnas, Barry Boehm, Giancarlo Succi, and Matthew Simons. Their comments are followed by a select set of articles that present a number of useful insights for achieving flexibility in GSD.

Also this month, nature-inspired computing is an emerging paradigm that mirrors the principles of self-organization and autonomous behavior in solving computing problems. Liu and Tsui examine the benefits of NIC in real-world computing systems and to unravel complex systems problems. Cegielski and Hall analyze some of the factors that make a good programmer. And Bharati and Chaudhury share the results of a study that identifies the factors that drive a firm’s decision to adopt a technology—or not.

Internet fraud is explored from two perspectives: Tamara Dinev studies the real-world damages inflicted by fake Web sites, not only to consumers but to the businesses being spoofed. And Hann et al. trace the factors that target consumers for receiving spam. As you will learn, spam distribution is hardly scattershot.

In "Technology Strategy and Management," Michael Cusumano considers the future of India’s billion-dollar software industry. The picture, he says, is not as rosy as it has been. And Pamela Samuelson traces IBM’s change of heart when it comes to open source software in her latest "Legally Speaking."

Diane Crawford
Editor