SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT AND INTERNATIONAL PRODUCT BUSINESS Sami Jantunen GLOBAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT PROJECT www.tbrc.fi/gnm
CONTEXT MATTERS Every design problem begins with an effort to achieve fitness between two entities: the form in question and its context. The form is the solution to the problem; the context defines the problem. -Cristopher Alexander www.tbrc.fi/gnm 2 GLOBAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT
TOPICS TO BE COVERED CONTEXT MATTERS IN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT WHAT IS SO SPECIAL ABOUT SOFTWARE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT? HOW INTERNATIONALIZATION OF A PRODUCT CHANGES SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT? WHAT CAN BE DONE FOR THE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES? www.tbrc.fi/gnm 3 GLOBAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT
BESPOKE VS. MARKET-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT (1/2) Aspect Primary goal Measure of success Life cycle Requirements conception Requirements specification Users Bespoke development Compliance to the specification Satisfaction, acceptance One release, then maintenance. Elicitated, analyzed, validated Used as a contract between customer and supplier. Known or identifiable. Termed user, end user. Market-driven development Time-to-market. Requirements are jettisoned rather than allowing delay of release. Sales, market share, product reviews Several releases, as long as there is a market for the product. Invented. Either the market (marketing department) permits a feature, or technology does. Rarely exist in orthodox RE terms, if so, they are much less formal. Requirements are communicated verbally. Unknown, may not exist until first product is on the market. Termed customer. Source: Pär Carlshamre (2001), A Usability Perpective On Requirements Engineering www.tbrc.fi/gnm 4 GLOBAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT
BESPOKE VS. MARKET-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT (2/2) Aspect Bespoke development Market-driven development Physical distance to users Usually small Usually large Main stakeholder Customer organization Developing organization Specific RE issues Developer s association with the software Elicitation, modelling, validation, conflict resolution. Short-term (until end of project) Managing a steady stream of new requirements. Prioritizing, costestimating, release planning. Long-term, promoting e.g. investment in maintainability. Validation Ongoing process Very late, e.g., at trade fairs. Use of RE standards and explicit methods More common Rare Use of iterative techniques Less common More common Domain expertise available on the development team More common Less common product development often break new ground). www.tbrc.fi/gnm 5 GLOBAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT
TAILOR-MADE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT www.tbrc.fi/gnm 6 GLOBAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT
MARKET-DRIVEN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT www.tbrc.fi/gnm 7 GLOBAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT
MARKET-DRIVEN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT Technological turbulence Customers needs Commercial turbulence www.tbrc.fi/gnm 8 GLOBAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT
ALL THAT FUSS ABOUT CUSTOMERS Customer #1 Customer #2 Customer #3 Technological turbulence Customers needs Customer #4 Commercial turbulence Customer #5 www.tbrc.fi/gnm 9 GLOBAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT
COMPETITION Customer #1 Customer #2 Customer #3 Technological turbulence Customer #4 Commercial turbulence Customer #5 www.tbrc.fi/gnm 10 GLOBAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT FOR GLOBAL MARKETS Customer Customer #1 #1 Customer Customer #2 #2 Customer Customer #3 #3 Technological Technological turbulence turbulence Customer Customer #4 #4 Commercial Commercial turbulence turbulence Customer Customer #5 #5 www.tbrc.fi/gnm 11 GLOBAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT
MAKING IT EVEN MORE DIFFICULT: COLLABORATING WITH PARTNERS PARTNERS ACT UPON THEIR OWN INTEREST when sensing the market when making sense of the market when acting upon knowledge Partners may provide you distorted market information Partners may be selfish when demanding new features Partners may not be committed to sell the product PRODUCT ORGANIZATION LOSES CONTROL TO SOME EXTENT WHEN COLLABORATING WITH PARTNER www.tbrc.fi/gnm 12 GLOBAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT
SUMMARY HOW INTERNATIONALIZATION AFFECTS REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING PRACTICES www.tbrc.fi/gnm 13 GLOBAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT
WANTING TO INCREASE YOUR CHANCES? THE CHALLENGE OF MARKET-DRIVEN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT: The complexity of design problem increases all the time. What can you do about it? Become a better shooter? Cut down the number of carrots? www.tbrc.fi/gnm 14 GLOBAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT
HOW TO BECOME A BETTER SHOOTER? Tool and process improvements?? Improve your ability to collect and manage information? Improve your ability to make conclusions from the data? Improve your ability to make decisions based on the built understanding of market needs? Improve your ability to document and disseminate the made decisions? www.tbrc.fi/gnm 15 GLOBAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT
ARE YOU WORKING WITH ONE HAND ONLY? (PROCESSES COLLABORATION) Are processes enough? How about supporting human interaction? Will you be able to manage the complexity in the long run? Which of the following describes better your challenge?: How can I treat the gathered information in a most efficient manner? How can I utilize my resources the best possible way in creating new knowledge? www.tbrc.fi/gnm 16 GLOBAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT
HARNESSING YOUR RESOURCES IN KNOWLEDGE CREATION Customer University Competitor Marketing Product development Supplier COMPANY It is much about selecting right resources to the right place and time! www.tbrc.fi/gnm 17 GLOBAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT
CAN YOU FIND A SOLUTION THAT SATISFIES ALL? Customer Customer #1 #1 Customer Customer #2 #2 Customer #3 U.S.A Technological Technological turbulence turbulence Customer Customer #4 #4 EUROPE Commercial Commercial turbulence turbulence Customer Customer #5 #5 www.tbrc.fi/gnm 18 GLOBAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT
STRUCTURE OF YOUR PRODUCT? CORE www.tbrc.fi/gnm 19 GLOBAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT
SUMMARY Context matters in Software Development Product development differs from bespoke development in many ways Internationalization of a product magnifies the product development challenges even further The challenge of developing a software product to a global marketplace is becoming more and more complex Can such complexity be tackled relying on engineering skills only? www.tbrc.fi/gnm 20 GLOBAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT