Distributed development
Encyclopedia
A distributed development project is a research & development project that is done across many business worksites or locations. It is a form of R&D where the project members may not see each other face to face, but they are all working collaboratively toward the outcome of the project. Often this is done through email
, the Internet
and other forms of quick long-distance communication.
It is different from outsourcing
because all of the organizations are working together on an equal level, instead of one organization subcontracting
the work to another.
It also is similar to, but different from, a virtual team
because there is a research element.
or Boeing
aircraft - those are usually done in multiple locations (though by the same company) and assembled finally in one location.
know exactly what their colleagues in Toulouse
are doing and they know this well beyond just the interfaces of the pieces they do.
and wings the world has ever seen - the plane is only a success if it flies when assembled.
In summary, distributed development is one of the highest forms of collaboration in any engineering
and R&D environment. It is difficult to achieve, since it requires high management capabilities, an excellent communication environment, a politically free environment, a highly efficient infrastructure, a well-developed organization chart, and frequent interaction. Most important, management needs to believe in the set-up and put measures in place to reward compliance, as well as be very strict with those who do not comply.
By doing these three actions, one may obtain advantages beyond pure outsourcing or offshoring
, namely much higher motivated employees in all parts of the distributed network, higher retention and certainly one gains from the diversity of the network.
The image below tries to explain how the different pieces fit together. There is a distinction between on-shore, near-shore and off shore and all three can be done either outsources (means by another company) or by owns subsidiaries. In all cases there are different levels of work done outside of the own local boundaries, ranging from simple service to high-end R&D.
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
, the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and other forms of quick long-distance communication.
It is different from outsourcing
Outsourcing
Outsourcing is the process of contracting a business function to someone else.-Overview:The term outsourcing is used inconsistently but usually involves the contracting out of a business function - commonly one previously performed in-house - to an external provider...
because all of the organizations are working together on an equal level, instead of one organization subcontracting
Subcontractor
A subcontractor is an individual or in many cases a business that signs a contract to perform part or all of the obligations of another's contract....
the work to another.
It also is similar to, but different from, a virtual team
Virtual team
A virtual team is a group of individuals who work across time, space and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by webs of communication technology...
because there is a research element.
Location
People are distributed across multiple locations and work on the same project or product. The reasons for the distributions do not matter, they might include the availability of resources in different locations, closeness to certain clusters, proximity to customers or cost advantages. Examples could be the production of an AirbusAirbus
Airbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, surburb of Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners....
or Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
aircraft - those are usually done in multiple locations (though by the same company) and assembled finally in one location.
Collaboration
People might specialize in a distributed development environment, but they actively collaborate together to achieve the common goal. There must be a program lead or project manager somewhere in the project management mix. In a distributed environment, project members share ideas, information and resources. To get back to the Aircraft example; the Airbus engineers in HamburgHamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
know exactly what their colleagues in Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
are doing and they know this well beyond just the interfaces of the pieces they do.
Responsibility and accountability
Everybody feels responsible for the achievement of the overall project goal. Nobody can succeed without everybody else being successful. This is also different from a typical outsourcing project, where every outsourced function just concentrates on (and gets measured against) the actual goals and tasks of that function. This mandatory set-up makes people think about what the "other side" thinks and makes them collaborate and help each other. Again, Airbus in Hamburg can never be successful if the aircraft does not take off. Even if they produce the best fuselageFuselage
The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull...
and wings the world has ever seen - the plane is only a success if it flies when assembled.
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
and R&D environment. It is difficult to achieve, since it requires high management capabilities, an excellent communication environment, a politically free environment, a highly efficient infrastructure, a well-developed organization chart, and frequent interaction. Most important, management needs to believe in the set-up and put measures in place to reward compliance, as well as be very strict with those who do not comply.
Success factors
There are three main success factors for a distributed development project:- Select and/or recruit good, strong, highly skilled people.
- Spend some money for face-to-face meetings, especially at the beginning of each major project.
- Build an organizational design that supports working in a distributed development, including the right incentive systems.
By doing these three actions, one may obtain advantages beyond pure outsourcing or offshoring
Offshoring
Offshoring describes the relocation by a company of a business process from one country to another—typically an operational process, such as manufacturing, or supporting processes, such as accounting. Even state governments employ offshoring...
, namely much higher motivated employees in all parts of the distributed network, higher retention and certainly one gains from the diversity of the network.
The image below tries to explain how the different pieces fit together. There is a distinction between on-shore, near-shore and off shore and all three can be done either outsources (means by another company) or by owns subsidiaries. In all cases there are different levels of work done outside of the own local boundaries, ranging from simple service to high-end R&D.