A validated ontology for global software development

• We propose an ontology that covers three important issues regarding GSD: the goals, barriers and different concepts involved in a GSD project.
• The ontology was produced as the result of an exhaustive literature analysis. Moreover, the ontology was evaluated and validated by experts by means of two surveys.
• The proposed ontology may be useful for both researchers and practitioners since it provides a common language that will allow them to understand GSD and reason and avoid misunderstandings related to it.

The global software development (GSD) paradigm has, over the last 15 fifteen years, shifted from being novel and ground breaking to being widely adopted and mainstream. This wide adoption is partly owing to the many benefits provided by GSD, such as reduced labour costs, proximity to new markets and access to a diverse and experienced skills pool. Yet taking advantage of these benefits is far from straightforward, and research literature now includes a proliferation of guidelines, reviews and models to support the GSD industry. Although this active area of study is firmly established as a research area in its own right, the boundaries between general software engineering and GSD are somewhat confused and poorly defined. In an effort to consolidate our understanding of GSD, we have developed an ontology in order to capture the most relevant terms, concepts and relationships related to the goals, barriers and features of GSD projects. The study we present here builds on research conducted in a collaboration project between industry and academia, in which we developed an ontology in order to provide practitioners with a “common language and conceptualisation”. Its successful outcome encouraged us to create a broader ontology that captures the current trends in GSD literature. The key ontology, along with its three subontologies, are the result of a review of the relevant literature, together with several expert evaluations. This ontology can serve as a useful introduction to GSD for researchers who are new to the paradigm. Moreover, practitioners can take advantage of it in order to contextualise their projects and predict and detect possible barriers. What is more, using a common language will help both researchers and practitioners to avoid ambiguities and misunderstanding.