Studying the impact of global software development characteristics on project goals: a causal model

Despite the growing importance of global software development (GSD), a high failure rate of GSD projects is reported in the literature. In order to understand the underlying reasons, the goals of GSD projects and the special charac- teristics of GSD that might have an influence on these goals have to be identified. This article presents a combined litera- ture and interview study aimed at identifying goals and influencing factors in GSD and integrates them into a causal model. The article presents the goal and design of the study; the literature review, which resulted in a preliminary model of factors and cause-effect relationships; and the revision of the model based on interviews with practitioners in GSD.