Sourcing relationships that rely on distributed global software development teams have been increasing in every industry. Yet, according to many estimates, nearly half of these relationships sour, falling far short of expectations. The primitive approaches used by many sourcing providers, and software developers in general, not only rely primarily on antiquated methods to scope out projects but also fail to put into place sophisticated real time metrics to assess the progress and productivity of future software development.

This whitepaper asserts that moving to the next generation of software development and sourcing requires moving from art to science. Given how dependent we are on software as a foundation for every product and service, anything less creates a climate of risk, uncertainty, and unjustifiable costs that undermines our ability to compete in a global marketplace.