Success Factors in Building and Maintaining Trust Among Globally Distributed Team Members

Abstract: Globalization trends have affected many software organizations in the past years. They are turning towards global software development (GSD) market in search for quality with a lower price and shorter development times. It turns out that certain management methods used for in-house development are not applicable in GSD, often resulting in a failed project. It is believed that trust is one of the key factors for success or failure of such projects. In the first part, this thesis studies the causes of lacking or losing trust in globally distributed teams though a literature review and systematic review of current research. The second part of this thesis studies the practices which have been applied in industry to prevent or minimize the impact of trust related issues. Finally these practices are mapped to the identified issues, resulting in a set of recommendations for managers involved in GSD.