Identifying Software Cost Attributes of Software Project Management in Global Software Development: An Integrative Framework

Abstract

The management of global and distributed software projects is a very difficult task further complicated by the emergence of new challenges inherent in stakeholder dispersion. Software cost estimation plays a central role to face challenges in the context of Global Software Development (GSD). The objective of this study is to identify software cost attributes related to GSD context to present an integrative framework encompassing these attributes. Thirty cost attributes were identified using a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) and later compiled into a framework inspired by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) taxonomy.