The objective of this panel is to debate digital innovations and the uncertainties presented in t... more The objective of this panel is to debate digital innovations and the uncertainties presented in the domain of impact sourcing. Impact sourcing is an emerging phenomenon that aims to transform people’s lives, families, and communities through meaningful employment in digitally-enabled services. The challenge and central question to be addressed by the panel is to consider and challenge the rather utopian assumption that impact sourcing leads to economic and social development for employees and their communities. Each panelist will present views that will lead to a richer thesis on the practices that can elevate rather than exploit individuals from marginalized communities. Everyone on the panel can tell of the positive and negative consequences within their own case studies as few cases, if any, produce all good results or all bad results
Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 2006
Looking at prominent centers of software activity across the globe we observe that software devel... more Looking at prominent centers of software activity across the globe we observe that software developers tell narratives about themselves to explain their identity and their successes. For example, the USA thinks in terms of the cowboy programmer, Ireland the Celtic Tiger, and Israel the commando programmer. These narratives provide insights into the mental world of individuals and groups in the global software industry. This paper collects and documents the narratives of software professionals in six nations: Russia, Israel, Ireland, USA, India, and Brazil. The country choice reflects a cross-section of prominent software nations. Using a taxonomy adapted from the political identity literature, we classify these narratives. The most frequently occurring narrative is the interplay between redemption, national suffering and heroism. Brazil, Russia, India, and Israel offer distinct narratives of redemption and suffering. Israel and the USA use distinct narratives of valor. Among the six nations' narratives, we find that some narratives are collectively oriented while others are individualistically oriented. National narratives are important for reasons both academic and practical. The literature on comparative human capital focuses on readily measurable data. Therefore, there may be a gap in understanding global competition in software. Narratives influence important decisions, such as where to locate a new software R&D site or where to invest in start-ups. An understanding of narratives helps to shape them.
The Handbook of Global Outsourcing and Offshoring, 2009
“We have an innovative workforce solution for offshore outsourcing,” asserted Carlos Apestegui, h... more “We have an innovative workforce solution for offshore outsourcing,” asserted Carlos Apestegui, head of PanGenesis’s Costa Rican operations, speaking to his guest. “We have a unique apprentice program to tap young Costa Rica students and a special approach to importing highly qualified labor into Costa Rica. We have created a formula that allows us to lower charge rates, perform faster development — and all this in this attractive small nation.” He finished his sentence by waving at the many tropical plants all around him in the garden of the hotel which was hosting a large technology conference.
Despite the increasing attention to global IS work, there is limited understanding of why and how... more Despite the increasing attention to global IS work, there is limited understanding of why and how global IS development projects succeed or fail. Based on the literature on IS success and global teams, we develop a conceptual framework for global IS development project success. We also conducted interviews with nine global IS project managers to validate this framework through a qualitative attribution analysis to identify common themes and patterns of the interview results. Global project managers identified time separation, cultural differences and geographic distance as the most significant barriers to project success. Organizations implemented various communication mechanisms, task programming, and project control methods to mitigate global risks, leading to project success.
Hatuka is the head and founder of the Laboratory of Contemporary Urban Planning and Design, an in... more Hatuka is the head and founder of the Laboratory of Contemporary Urban Planning and Design, an international center for investigating connections between the built environment and sociocultural dynamics. Hatuka's work focuses primarily on (1) the urban realm and society (i.e. public space, conflicts, technology) and ( ) urban development and city design (i.e. industrial urbanism). She has researched and published regarding both issues in peer-reviewed journals, books, and edited volumes.
Research to date has not attempted to model coordination in global software teams. We formulate a... more Research to date has not attempted to model coordination in global software teams. We formulate a preliminary collaboration model for a dyad to help us understand the consequences of time separation. We first describe the model and its theoretical foundations and we then evaluate the model by simulating several thousand observations and running regression models to inspect the effect of different variables on coordination costs. We then make suggestions for further extension of the model to include more complex scenarios with multiple collaborators and fewer assumptions. Our evaluation shows that the consequences of time separation are complex and that we need to understand them well before we can make claims about coordination outcomes in larger software teams that are separated by time zones.
The implicit assumption in online marketplaces is that reputation, registered as the average of p... more The implicit assumption in online marketplaces is that reputation, registered as the average of previous ratings, represents a market opinion of the trustworthiness of a business party and that this predicts eventual satisfaction with the expected outcome of the transaction. Extensive research indeed shows that such reputation does result in a higher probability of the seller being chosen in both services and goods markets, presumably because buyers believe that higher rating sellers have a better probability of delivering. Whether reputation actually predicts successful completion of the project and payment, rather than bid choice, however, is an unknown. This study answers that question. The data show that only when the rating value is above 5.5, which is rounded up in the market presentation to a caption of “above average”, is there a significant relationship between previous rating of the seller and eventual payment.
We often hear that global IT work creates difficulties due to time and distance. Companies source... more We often hear that global IT work creates difficulties due to time and distance. Companies source their IT work to Asia to capitalize on lower labor costs. But they soon discover time zone coordination costs that stem from delayed communications and misunderstood tasks. We also hear a conflicting claim that time zone differences are actually an advantage in global IT work because a project can work round-the-clock. Are time zone differences good or bad? And how do companies overcome the challenges? This article explores this topic using the case of India-based Infosys, now one of the world’s largest IT sourcing and services firms.
Follow-the-sun (FTS) is a strategy for Global Software Development (GSD) where you hand off work ... more Follow-the-sun (FTS) is a strategy for Global Software Development (GSD) where you hand off work at the end of every day from one site to the next, many time zones away, in order to speed up product development. Companies have tried to implement FTS, but have abandoned it after some point because of the difficulty to put it into practice. Consequently, there are few documented industry successes. The lack of FTS experience in the software industry is observed as the main barrier for its adoption. For this reason, we performed a study applying FTS to develop a software project. Our goal was to examine the feasibility and outcomes of FTS. In this paper, we present the experience report describing best practices and solutions performed to overcome the challenges we found.
Communications of the Association for Information Systems
This paper describes how a startup business process outsourcing (BPO) provider named Liberty Sour... more This paper describes how a startup business process outsourcing (BPO) provider named Liberty Source helped a large U.S.-based client reshore business services from an established Indian BPO provider. Founded in 2014, Liberty Source is a for-profit firm that provides a competitive alternative to offshoring while fulfilling its social mission to launch and sustain the careers of U.S. military spouses and veterans who face various employment disadvantages. Thus, the case describes reshoring in the context of impact sourcing. It addresses key impact sourcing issues pertaining to workforce development, scalability, and impact on employees. The impact was positive: the workers found the employment and stable salary were beneficial, "the military" culture fit well with the workers, and workers received considerable flexibility and greater career options. Liberty Source was able to reduce a client's costs after reshoring the client's processes because Liberty Source's U.S. site had about 20 percent fewer full time equivalents (FTEs) FTEs than the original India location and because Liberty Source received subsidies. We found evidence that the offshore BPO provider and Liberty source experienced difficulties with finding enough skilled staff for the wages offered and both firms experienced attrition problems, although attrition was greater in India.
Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on CrowdSourcing in Software Engineering - CSI-SE '16, 2016
Crowdsourcing is a relatively new phenomenon in computer science and software engineering. In cro... more Crowdsourcing is a relatively new phenomenon in computer science and software engineering. In crowdsourcing a task is delivered to a crowd of participants who will work on this task. Task allocation is then an important aspect in the context of crowdsourcing. If done properly, it delivers successful results based on the answers provided by the crowd. However, task allocation in crowdsourcing is not a trivial problem. Factors like a task's requirements, the knowledge required for its resolution, and the size and heterogeneity of the participants in the crowd all impact task allocation, and therefore, the expected quality of the task results. In this case, the execution of actions from a plan, which assist the dynamic tasks' allocation in crowdsourcing systems, become relevant as an alternative solution. This paper formalizes task allocation in crowdsourcing scenarios as an artificial intelligence planning problem. Our results suggest that task allocation has several challenges when it is observed in distributed, undefined and dynamic environments, like in crowdsourcing scenarios. Our goal is to evaluate if automated planning is appropriate for providing a plan to match skills of crowd workers for the right tasks in software engineering projects. Preliminary results are presented in this paper.
Our classrooms are nearly empty. The job prospects for our graduates are bleak. Offshoring is rec... more Our classrooms are nearly empty. The job prospects for our graduates are bleak. Offshoring is reconfiguring the American information technology industry. What are we to do? After years of unprecedented growth, demand, and skill shortages, IT faculty find themselves in a new environment. As a shortterm solution, some faculty are scrambling to develop and redesign courses. This is not enough and will not sustain the fundamental shifts needed in a global economy. How can individual faculty, Information Systems departments, and schools respond to survive the rapidly changing landscape? The situation calls for innovations in academic delivery. Academics must serve as examples of agility to students by rethinking and revising curricula. We have responded when faced with other changes such as DBMS, end-user computing, networking, and e-commerce when it was in our favor. Can we do it again? How do we instill in students how they can become innovators and not merely problem solvers? What new organizational forms can academic programs take to help students bridge global teams? The panel will discuss innovations to address the crisis of low enrollments and dated skill sets. The format lists panelists in order of presentation along with their relevant expertise. Panel Format Kate M. Kaiser will state objectives and facilitate discussion to engage audience participation. The Issues Erran Carmel will present the overall offshoring landscape and then set up the framework for addressing needs. First, he will review the data on job migration, wage, and employment trends in the United States and Europe followed by data on the education pipeline in math, science, and technology, and IT specifically. With this backdrop he will present a framework for the structural changes taking place due to offshoring that universities need to address.
The objective of this panel is to debate digital innovations and the uncertainties presented in t... more The objective of this panel is to debate digital innovations and the uncertainties presented in the domain of impact sourcing. Impact sourcing is an emerging phenomenon that aims to transform people’s lives, families, and communities through meaningful employment in digitally-enabled services. The challenge and central question to be addressed by the panel is to consider and challenge the rather utopian assumption that impact sourcing leads to economic and social development for employees and their communities. Each panelist will present views that will lead to a richer thesis on the practices that can elevate rather than exploit individuals from marginalized communities. Everyone on the panel can tell of the positive and negative consequences within their own case studies as few cases, if any, produce all good results or all bad results
Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 2006
Looking at prominent centers of software activity across the globe we observe that software devel... more Looking at prominent centers of software activity across the globe we observe that software developers tell narratives about themselves to explain their identity and their successes. For example, the USA thinks in terms of the cowboy programmer, Ireland the Celtic Tiger, and Israel the commando programmer. These narratives provide insights into the mental world of individuals and groups in the global software industry. This paper collects and documents the narratives of software professionals in six nations: Russia, Israel, Ireland, USA, India, and Brazil. The country choice reflects a cross-section of prominent software nations. Using a taxonomy adapted from the political identity literature, we classify these narratives. The most frequently occurring narrative is the interplay between redemption, national suffering and heroism. Brazil, Russia, India, and Israel offer distinct narratives of redemption and suffering. Israel and the USA use distinct narratives of valor. Among the six nations' narratives, we find that some narratives are collectively oriented while others are individualistically oriented. National narratives are important for reasons both academic and practical. The literature on comparative human capital focuses on readily measurable data. Therefore, there may be a gap in understanding global competition in software. Narratives influence important decisions, such as where to locate a new software R&D site or where to invest in start-ups. An understanding of narratives helps to shape them.
The Handbook of Global Outsourcing and Offshoring, 2009
“We have an innovative workforce solution for offshore outsourcing,” asserted Carlos Apestegui, h... more “We have an innovative workforce solution for offshore outsourcing,” asserted Carlos Apestegui, head of PanGenesis’s Costa Rican operations, speaking to his guest. “We have a unique apprentice program to tap young Costa Rica students and a special approach to importing highly qualified labor into Costa Rica. We have created a formula that allows us to lower charge rates, perform faster development — and all this in this attractive small nation.” He finished his sentence by waving at the many tropical plants all around him in the garden of the hotel which was hosting a large technology conference.
Despite the increasing attention to global IS work, there is limited understanding of why and how... more Despite the increasing attention to global IS work, there is limited understanding of why and how global IS development projects succeed or fail. Based on the literature on IS success and global teams, we develop a conceptual framework for global IS development project success. We also conducted interviews with nine global IS project managers to validate this framework through a qualitative attribution analysis to identify common themes and patterns of the interview results. Global project managers identified time separation, cultural differences and geographic distance as the most significant barriers to project success. Organizations implemented various communication mechanisms, task programming, and project control methods to mitigate global risks, leading to project success.
Hatuka is the head and founder of the Laboratory of Contemporary Urban Planning and Design, an in... more Hatuka is the head and founder of the Laboratory of Contemporary Urban Planning and Design, an international center for investigating connections between the built environment and sociocultural dynamics. Hatuka's work focuses primarily on (1) the urban realm and society (i.e. public space, conflicts, technology) and ( ) urban development and city design (i.e. industrial urbanism). She has researched and published regarding both issues in peer-reviewed journals, books, and edited volumes.
Research to date has not attempted to model coordination in global software teams. We formulate a... more Research to date has not attempted to model coordination in global software teams. We formulate a preliminary collaboration model for a dyad to help us understand the consequences of time separation. We first describe the model and its theoretical foundations and we then evaluate the model by simulating several thousand observations and running regression models to inspect the effect of different variables on coordination costs. We then make suggestions for further extension of the model to include more complex scenarios with multiple collaborators and fewer assumptions. Our evaluation shows that the consequences of time separation are complex and that we need to understand them well before we can make claims about coordination outcomes in larger software teams that are separated by time zones.
The implicit assumption in online marketplaces is that reputation, registered as the average of p... more The implicit assumption in online marketplaces is that reputation, registered as the average of previous ratings, represents a market opinion of the trustworthiness of a business party and that this predicts eventual satisfaction with the expected outcome of the transaction. Extensive research indeed shows that such reputation does result in a higher probability of the seller being chosen in both services and goods markets, presumably because buyers believe that higher rating sellers have a better probability of delivering. Whether reputation actually predicts successful completion of the project and payment, rather than bid choice, however, is an unknown. This study answers that question. The data show that only when the rating value is above 5.5, which is rounded up in the market presentation to a caption of “above average”, is there a significant relationship between previous rating of the seller and eventual payment.
We often hear that global IT work creates difficulties due to time and distance. Companies source... more We often hear that global IT work creates difficulties due to time and distance. Companies source their IT work to Asia to capitalize on lower labor costs. But they soon discover time zone coordination costs that stem from delayed communications and misunderstood tasks. We also hear a conflicting claim that time zone differences are actually an advantage in global IT work because a project can work round-the-clock. Are time zone differences good or bad? And how do companies overcome the challenges? This article explores this topic using the case of India-based Infosys, now one of the world’s largest IT sourcing and services firms.
Follow-the-sun (FTS) is a strategy for Global Software Development (GSD) where you hand off work ... more Follow-the-sun (FTS) is a strategy for Global Software Development (GSD) where you hand off work at the end of every day from one site to the next, many time zones away, in order to speed up product development. Companies have tried to implement FTS, but have abandoned it after some point because of the difficulty to put it into practice. Consequently, there are few documented industry successes. The lack of FTS experience in the software industry is observed as the main barrier for its adoption. For this reason, we performed a study applying FTS to develop a software project. Our goal was to examine the feasibility and outcomes of FTS. In this paper, we present the experience report describing best practices and solutions performed to overcome the challenges we found.
Communications of the Association for Information Systems
This paper describes how a startup business process outsourcing (BPO) provider named Liberty Sour... more This paper describes how a startup business process outsourcing (BPO) provider named Liberty Source helped a large U.S.-based client reshore business services from an established Indian BPO provider. Founded in 2014, Liberty Source is a for-profit firm that provides a competitive alternative to offshoring while fulfilling its social mission to launch and sustain the careers of U.S. military spouses and veterans who face various employment disadvantages. Thus, the case describes reshoring in the context of impact sourcing. It addresses key impact sourcing issues pertaining to workforce development, scalability, and impact on employees. The impact was positive: the workers found the employment and stable salary were beneficial, "the military" culture fit well with the workers, and workers received considerable flexibility and greater career options. Liberty Source was able to reduce a client's costs after reshoring the client's processes because Liberty Source's U.S. site had about 20 percent fewer full time equivalents (FTEs) FTEs than the original India location and because Liberty Source received subsidies. We found evidence that the offshore BPO provider and Liberty source experienced difficulties with finding enough skilled staff for the wages offered and both firms experienced attrition problems, although attrition was greater in India.
Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on CrowdSourcing in Software Engineering - CSI-SE '16, 2016
Crowdsourcing is a relatively new phenomenon in computer science and software engineering. In cro... more Crowdsourcing is a relatively new phenomenon in computer science and software engineering. In crowdsourcing a task is delivered to a crowd of participants who will work on this task. Task allocation is then an important aspect in the context of crowdsourcing. If done properly, it delivers successful results based on the answers provided by the crowd. However, task allocation in crowdsourcing is not a trivial problem. Factors like a task's requirements, the knowledge required for its resolution, and the size and heterogeneity of the participants in the crowd all impact task allocation, and therefore, the expected quality of the task results. In this case, the execution of actions from a plan, which assist the dynamic tasks' allocation in crowdsourcing systems, become relevant as an alternative solution. This paper formalizes task allocation in crowdsourcing scenarios as an artificial intelligence planning problem. Our results suggest that task allocation has several challenges when it is observed in distributed, undefined and dynamic environments, like in crowdsourcing scenarios. Our goal is to evaluate if automated planning is appropriate for providing a plan to match skills of crowd workers for the right tasks in software engineering projects. Preliminary results are presented in this paper.
Our classrooms are nearly empty. The job prospects for our graduates are bleak. Offshoring is rec... more Our classrooms are nearly empty. The job prospects for our graduates are bleak. Offshoring is reconfiguring the American information technology industry. What are we to do? After years of unprecedented growth, demand, and skill shortages, IT faculty find themselves in a new environment. As a shortterm solution, some faculty are scrambling to develop and redesign courses. This is not enough and will not sustain the fundamental shifts needed in a global economy. How can individual faculty, Information Systems departments, and schools respond to survive the rapidly changing landscape? The situation calls for innovations in academic delivery. Academics must serve as examples of agility to students by rethinking and revising curricula. We have responded when faced with other changes such as DBMS, end-user computing, networking, and e-commerce when it was in our favor. Can we do it again? How do we instill in students how they can become innovators and not merely problem solvers? What new organizational forms can academic programs take to help students bridge global teams? The panel will discuss innovations to address the crisis of low enrollments and dated skill sets. The format lists panelists in order of presentation along with their relevant expertise. Panel Format Kate M. Kaiser will state objectives and facilitate discussion to engage audience participation. The Issues Erran Carmel will present the overall offshoring landscape and then set up the framework for addressing needs. First, he will review the data on job migration, wage, and employment trends in the United States and Europe followed by data on the education pipeline in math, science, and technology, and IT specifically. With this backdrop he will present a framework for the structural changes taking place due to offshoring that universities need to address.
Communications of the Association for Information Systems
Impact sourcing is the practice of training and hiring marginalized individuals (people who norma... more Impact sourcing is the practice of training and hiring marginalized individuals (people who normally would have few opportunities for good employment) to provide information technology (IT), business process, or other digitallyenabled services. Perhaps no other population is more marginalized than prisoners. Worldwide there are over six million prisoners, of which over two million are U.S. prisoners. In the U.S., 95 percent of inmates will one day be released. Prison employment programs are interventions aimed at preparing inmates to reenter society. We studied a special type of prison employment program: the hiring and training of prisoners to perform business services using a computer. The impact of prison sourcing needs to be understood in two distinct time periods: while in prison and after prison. Based on a case study at a U.S. Federal Correctional Institution employing 140 inmates in prison sourcing, we found evidence that prison sourcing for business services positively affects the inmates while in prison. The main benefits are good financial compensation, work habit development, productively occupying time, development of business skills, and the elevation of self-efficacy and status. We have almost no data about the impact on future prospects and explain why this gap happens.
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