Why replacing legacy systems is so hard in global software development: An information infrastructure perspective

Stina Matthiesen, Pernille Bjørn

Publikation: Bidrag til bog/antologi/rapportKonferencebidrag i proceedingsForskningpeer review

32 Citationer (Scopus)

Abstract

We report on an ethnographic study of an outsourcing global software development (GSD) setup between a Danish IT company and an Indian IT vendor developing a system to replace a legacy system for social services administration in Denmark. Physical distance and GSD collaboration issues tend to be obvious explanations for why GSD tasks fail to reach completion; however, we account for the difficulties within the technical nature of the software system task. We use the framework of information infrastructure to show how replacing a legacy system in governmental information infrastructures includes the work of tracing back to knowledge concerning law, technical specifications, as well as how information infrastructures have dynamically evolved over time. Not easily carried out in a GSD setup is the work around technical tasks that requires careful examination of mundane technical aspects, standards, and bureaucratic forms, as well as the excavation work that keeps the information infrastructure afloat.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
TitelCSCW 2015 - Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing
Antal sider15
ForlagAssociation for Computing Machinery, Inc.
Publikationsdato28 feb. 2015
Sider876-890
ISBN (Elektronisk)9781450329224
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 28 feb. 2015
Udgivet eksterntJa
Begivenhed18th ACM International Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, CSCW 2015 - BC, Canada
Varighed: 14 mar. 201518 mar. 2015

Konference

Konference18th ACM International Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, CSCW 2015
Land/OmrådeCanada
ByBC
Periode14/03/201518/03/2015
SponsorACM SIGCHI, et al., Facebook, GRAND, Microsoft Research, National Science Foundation (NSF)

Citationsformater