Agile Software Architecture in Global Software Development Environment: Systematic Literature Mapping

In recent years, software development companies started to adopt Global Software Development (GSD) to explore the benefits of this approach, mainly cost reduction. However, the GSD environment also brings more complexity and challenges. Some challenges are related to communication aspects like cultural dif- ferences, time zone, and language. This paper is the first step in an extensive study to understand if the software architecture can ease communication in GSD environments. We conducted a Systematic Litera- ture Mapping (SLM) to catalog relevant studies about software architecture and GSD teams and identify potential practices for use in the software industry. This paper’s findings contribute to the GSD body of knowledge by exploring the impact of software architecture strategy on the GSD environment. It presents hypotheses regarding the relationship between software architecture and GSD challenges, which will guide future research.