Dimensions of Collaboration in Global Software Engineering Teams: Explorations of 'Collaborative Technology Fit'

Working in global software engineering teams (GSETs), presents a plethora of challenges. In addition to the global developers working directly within their teams, a number of further actors perform support roles through a set of ‘backstage’ activities which underpin the degree of “Collaborative Technology Fit” between the sites. While crucial to the success of GSETs, the work of these actors in establishing and maintaining alignment between the sites has been little researched. A novel “Theory of Collaborative Technology Fit (CTF)” incorporates these “technology-use mediation” activities in a multidimensional model and provides both a theorization and a diagnostic tool for potential use by a variety of Global Virtual Teams. Three field work studies that have utilized the model in various ways are reported in this presentation.