Prioritizing trust in a globally distributed software engineering team to overcome complexity and make releases a non-event

Abstract

We share the experience of a globally distributed software development organization in addressing the performance issues resulting from the increased complexity caused by rapidly changing market demands. We discuss the challenges caused by the complexity within the teams, which were characterized by the emergence of thinking in silos, reduced morale, and accountability for overall project results, and a reduction in trust. We outline our successful approach to restore performance, which centered on fixing the trust deficit. Over time, the team progressed and went on to surpass its previous high-performance levels. Eventually, the software release process became a non-event for the team.