“Global software engineering is growing fast,” says Christof Ebert. This ReadyNote details the challenges that face organizations as they prepare to integrate a global workforce into their project planning. It is designed for most workers who operate in a distributed team, from the senior manager who must pick a remote site, to the software engineer hired at that site. The book is also useful for self-study, or as a supplement to a graduate or professional training class. Readers will learn about real-world, hands-on experiences, benefit from explanations of risks and how to manage them, and gain awareness of elements required to set up and manage a successful global software engineering (GSE) project.

Though the title specifically mentions GSE, the tutorial’s principles can (and are intended to) fit many other business types. According to the author, organizational response to globalization’s unique and inevitable problems will determine success. Global Software Engineering draws on experience, statistics, research, real-world accounts of leading multinational firms, lots of charts and tables, and frank insight to explain the practices that both lead to accomplishment and cause failure.

Author Christof Ebert, R&D director for Alcatel, relates literally hundreds of first-hand practical tips that could only come from a distributed-teams veteran. The book covers such topics as global development business models, supplier dynamics, risk management, quality control, and information security; and the text sketches a framework for negotiating diverse challenges including problematic suppliers, cross-shore contracts, foreign legal assistance, managing turnover, and increasing cultural awareness. Structurally, this ReadyNote is a topical manual set in a context of effective distance collaboration and project management.

Global Software Engineering capitalizes on Dr. Ebert’s extensive project management knowledge in explaining GSE’s specific project management requirements, including employee communication, management participation, shared responsibility for project completion, documentation, transportation, collaboration across time zones, resource allocation, and working with local suppliers. Particular insight emerges when the author examines major topics in a sort of personal, finer detail. For example, the Intellectual Property and Security section tells managers to be aware of their own malicious engineers who might create loopholes or install insecure applications, and even discusses engineer attitude.

When entering unfamiliar business territory, knowing the little things can often make a big difference. That kind of experience informs Global Software Engineering and makes its extraordinary detail especially valuable. Dr. Ebert warns readers that globalization is not easy, and he even states that not all software engineering tasks benefit from GSE. But some jobs do, and they produce exotic difficulties with rewards unique to the endeavor. In essence, this ReadyNote is full of practical, first-hand advice relating to issues that most directly impact engineers, managers, consultants, and suppliers engaged in global development projects.

• Christof Ebert is director of R&D at Alcatel in Paris, France. In this position he is responsible for effective and productive global software engineering, including offshoring risk management and supplier selection. Prior to that, he held engineering and management positions at Alcatel for more than a decade. A senior member of IEEE, Dr. Ebert lectures at University of Stuttgart, has authored several books, serves on various standardization committees, consults on software management and requirements engineering, and serves as both keynote speaker and editorial board member for several conferences. He is an executive board member for the IEEE International Conference on Global Software Engineering (ICGSE) series. Contact him at christofebert@ieee.org.