Small Worlds: The social approach to software delivery
Can leveraging social community to deliver software innovation really work and how will this impact an organization's bottom line? A three-year test by IBM reveals keys to success - from establishing the right framework to achieving significant value, shorter cycle times, enhanced quality, and more.
Recognizing the importance of time-based performance and that the complexity of software-intensive systems pose barriers to business initiatives, IBM determined to develop a community software development model and test it over a period of three years. Key to its framework was the incorporation of social capabilities that touched platforms, practices and people.
IBM's experience, detailed in
The Social Approach to Software Delivery highlights the transformative outcomes available to enterprises embracing modern methods. A large scale study of the initiative showed project delivery cycle time decreased by 30 percent, quality improved by 20 percent, costs significantly lowered, and the scope of work delivered increased.
This paper describes, how, within IBM's globally integrated enterprise, "small worlds" were created in which people could network rapidly within gated communities and reach knowledgeable workers with experiences relevant to the problems at hand. Download
The Social Approach to Software Delivery for a detailed account of how to leverage social tools and capabilities within an organization - from how to establish business alignment to building trust and transparency through to demonstrating value through empirical evidence.