Today's software industry is global, virtual, and depending more than ever on strong and reliable processes. Stakeholders and infrastructure are distributed across the globe, posing challenges that go beyond those with co-located teams and servers. Software Engineering continues to be a complex undertaking, with projects challenged to meet expectations, especially regarding costs. We know that Software Engineering is an ever-changing discipline, with the result that firms and their employees must regularly embrace new methods, tools, technologies, and processes. In 2020, the International Conference on Global Software Engineering (ICGSE) and the International Conference on Systems and Software Processes (ICSSP) joined forces aiming to create a holistic understanding of the software landscape both from the perspective of human and infrastructure distribution and also the processes to support software development. Unfortunately, these challenges have become even more personal to many more in 2020 due to the disruption introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced both conferences to be held virtually. As an outcome of the joint event, we selected a set of the best papers from the two conferences, which were invited to submit extended versions to this Special Issue in the Journal of Software: Maintenance and Evolution. Dedicated committees were established to identify the best papers. Eight papers were invited and ultimately, seven of these invited papers have made it into this Special Issue. © 2023 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.