A Review of Human Factors in Remote Software Project Management: A Progressive Look at Human Based Issues in Remote Software Development Environments

Abstract

There is a documented high rate of project failure within the software engineering community. Many researchers have discussed what the issues are and how to solve them using novel processes, technology, and tools, but the statistics remain mostly unchanged. We explored these issues from another perspective focusing on human based factors and how it affects remote software teams. Using a systematic literature review approach with selected criteria we explored the issues under several clusters. We found there exists a relationship between human based factors in remote software teams and success/failure, which, if better understood and managed could be used to reduce the challenges experienced by remote teams. We also identified a limitation in the availability of empirically tested data and suggest further research in understanding human based factors in remote teams as a precursor to reducing the rate of failure.