Supporting collaboration in distributed software engineering teams

Abstract

Sofhvare engineering is no longer the preserve of individuals but is essentially a team-based activity involving a wide variety of stakeholders and thus making the need for communication and co-operation an inherent characteristic.Changes in support technology, economic factors and globalisation of the sofhvare process is resulting in the geographical separation of personnel. Where such distribution of personnel occurs, it is clear that the quality of the project will be dependent upon the degree of effective communication and co-operation. This paper presents the results from a study of communication and co-operation practices on a range of distributed sofhvare projects from an industrial and educational context. It analyses the advantages and disadvantages of distributed sofrware engineering teams and presents the lessons learned from these studies including team structure, project management, communication and procedures.

Fair Assessment of Contribution and Process in Student Team Projects

“…Team working helps students "shift away from simple academic achievement to much broader goals -preparing them for their working lives" (Lejk, Wyvil, & Farrow, 1996). Team working is also essential for students who wish to enter the profession of software engineering, as the modern industrial software engineering process "typically involves participation of software designers, programmers, end-users and domain experts and is essentially, a team-based activity" (Layzell, Pearl Brereton, & French, 2000). The educational benefits of students working cooperatively in groups are well-recognized.…”

UsingFacebookto improve communication in undergraduate software development teams

“…Whilst the technologies we have provided do play a role in supporting their collaboration, student experiences have shown there is still much room for improvement, especially in terms of project management and relationship building. Indeed, the value of social interaction cannot be underestimated when trying to build up trust and empathy between distributed teams (Layzell, Brereton & French, 2000).…”

Resource Allocation in Software Projects Using a Bio-inspired Model

“…Consequently, the success of a large software development project does not depend only on the expertise of the people involved in the various project tasks, but also quite importantly on how effectively they collaborate, communicate and work together in teams [4], a fact that is indicated by their social ties/relationships. It has been argued that failure to consider collaboration issues in human resource allocation may compromise the project success [3].…”

“…Communication, cooperation and co-ordination between human resources are considered quite important, particularly in the context of open source and distributed software development projects [2], [3]. Project members, for example in a large distributed software project, work better when they engage in effective collaboration and interactions with their colleagues [3].…”

“…Communication, cooperation and co-ordination between human resources are considered quite important, particularly in the context of open source and distributed software development projects [2], [3]. Project members, for example in a large distributed software project, work better when they engage in effective collaboration and interactions with their colleagues [3]. Consequently, the success of a large software development project does not depend only on the expertise of the people involved in the various project tasks, but also quite importantly on how effectively they collaborate, communicate and work together in teams [4], a fact that is indicated by their social ties/relationships.…”