Research Statement 1. Development and Implementation of Information Systems

Theme 1 Global software development: Developing information systems is a labor intensive and complex process that involves intense coordination of interdependent tasks. Current software engineering theory proposes several processes and methodologies for managing IS development (example: Boehm, 1988; Boehm, 2002; Humphrey, 1988; Humphrey, 1996; Paulk, et al., 1995). These processes and methodologies aim to increase IS development project performance in terms of increased productivity and quality. However, a majority of these schemes focus on co-located software development. As software vendors are increasingly adopting global delivery models and setting up remote labs across the world, it is important to extend current software engineering theories to the globally distributed software development environment. Past systems and analysis methods and tools have to be revamped to include globally distributed processes and personnel. How can the impact of work force dispersion on software project performance be managed? How can we design the IT architecture to suit global development? These are some of the questions that interest me.