Journal Article

Bridging, Patching and Keeping the Work Flowing: Defect Resolution in Distributed Software Development

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Date

2009, 2009

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Volume Title

Source

Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): Vol. 18

Publisher

Springer

Abstract

This paper reports on results from a long-term field study of globally distributed software development projects within a multinational organization. The research explores the issues involved in performing global software development, utilizing a perspective informed by CSCW research concerning the local organization of work practices and the key role of workers in being able to intervene in the ‘flow of work’ where necessary. The paper also raises some more general questions concerning the field of Global Software Development (GSD), in terms of the concepts and methods being used in the area. Our contribution is in the form of a CSCW-informed empirical study of the use of defect (or ‘bug’) tracking systems—systems which support the identification, classification and resolution of defects in the emerging software. In one case, the team persisted with a defect tracking system that they had used for years and maintained it in parallel with a system used by co-workers in other countries—all the while attempting to implement a bridge between the two. In the other, we report on how local software patches were created to allow for local work to proceed while not interfering with the existing coordination mechanisms between the local site and remote co-workers who were responsible for creating daily builds according to the overall project plan. In both cases, local practices were shaped by the necessity to keep work flowing across the whole project, even if this involved what might, at first sight, seem to go against project-wide practice. We discuss implications of these findings in terms of a key distinction between externally-prescribed ‘workflow’ and internally-managed ‘flow of work’ activities. We also explore how a heterogeneous ‘assembly’ of variably coupled systems may be the most appropriate image for technological support of distributed teams as they keep the work flowing in an orderly fashion. Overall, our work suggests that studies of global software development can profit from the CSCW tradition of workplace studies both conceptually and methodologically.

Description

Avram, Gabriela; Bannon, Liam; Bowers, John; Sheehan, Anne; Sullivan, Daniel K. (2009): Bridging, Patching and Keeping the Work Flowing: Defect Resolution in Distributed Software Development. Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): Vol. 18. DOI: 10.1007/s10606-009-9099-6. Springer. PISSN: 1573-7551. pp. 477-507

Keywords

collaboration, geographically distributed work, Global Software Development (GSD), software engineering, teamwork, work practice, workflow

Citation

DOI

10.1007/s10606-009-9099-6

URI

URI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10606-009-9099-6
 https://dl.eusset.eu/handle/20.500.12015/3991

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JCSCW Vol. 18 (2009)

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Referenced By

Number of citations to item: 34

  • George Leal Jamil, Leandro R. Santos, Liliane C. Jamil, Augusto P. Vieira (2019): Approaching Information Architecture for a Market Intelligence System Based on Emerging Technologies, In: Advances in Healthcare Information Systems and Administration, doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-8470-4.ch001
  • Aditya Johri (2013): Sociomaterial Bricolage: The Creation of Location-Spanning Work Practices by Global Software Developers, In: SSRN Electronic Journal, doi:10.2139/ssrn.2195833
  • Netta Iivari (2016): Coordinating, Contributing, Contesting, Representing: HCI Specialists Surviving Distributed Design, In: COOP 2016: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on the Design of Cooperative Systems, 23-27 May 2016, Trento, Italy, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-33464-6_13
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  • Frauke Mörike (2021): Inverted Hierarchies on the Shop Floor: The Organisational Layer of Workarounds for Collaboration in the Metal Industry, In: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 1(31), doi:10.1007/s10606-021-09415-2
  • Lars Rune Christensen, Rasmus Eskild Jensen, Pernille Bjørn (2014): Relation Work in Collocated and Distributed Collaboration, In: COOP 2014 - Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on the Design of Cooperative Systems, 27-30 May 2014, Nice (France), doi:10.1007/978-3-319-06498-7_6
  • Rasmus Eskild Jensen, Pernille Bjørn (2012): Divergence and Convergence in Global Software Development: Cultural Complexities as Social Worlds, In: From Research to Practice in the Design of Cooperative Systems: Results and Open Challenges, doi:10.1007/978-1-4471-4093-1_9
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  • Deepti Mishra, Alok Mishra, Ricardo Colomo-Palacios, Cristina Casado-Lumbreras (2013): Global Software Development and Quality Management: A Systematic Review, In: Lecture Notes in Computer Science, doi:10.1007/978-3-642-41033-8_39
  • Pernille Bjorn, Jakob Bardram, Gabriela Avram, Liam Bannon, Alexander Boden, David Redmiles, Cleidson de Souza, Volker Wulf (2014): Global software development in a CSCW perspective, In: Proceedings of the companion publication of the 17th ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work & social computing, doi:10.1145/2556420.2558863
  • Nelson Tenório, Danieli Pinto, Pernille Bjørn (2018): Accountability in Brazilian Governmental Software Project: How Chat Technology Enables Social Translucence in Bug Report Activities, In: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 3-6(27), doi:10.1007/s10606-018-9326-0
  • Asbjørn Ammitzbøll Flügge, Naja Holten Møller (2022): The Role of Physical Cues in Co-located and Remote Casework, In: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 2(32), doi:10.1007/s10606-022-09449-0
  • Melanie Duckert, Louise Barkhuus, Pernille Bjørn (2023): Collocated Distance: A Fundamental Challenge for the Design of Hybrid Work Technologies, In: Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, doi:10.1145/3544548.3580899
  • Rasmus Eskild Jensen (2012): Communication breakdowns in global software development teams, In: Proceedings of the 17th ACM international conference on Supporting group work, doi:10.1145/2389176.2389223
  • Stina Matthiesen, Pernille Bjørn (2017): When Distribution of Tasks and Skills are Fundamentally Problematic, In: Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction CSCW(1), doi:10.1145/3139336
  • Miria Grisot, Polyxeni Vassilakopoulou (2015): The Work of Infrastructuring: A Study of a National eHealth Project, In: ECSCW 2015: Proceedings of the 14th European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 19-23 September 2015, Oslo, Norway, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-20499-4_11
  • Stina Matthiesen, Pernille Bjørn, Claus Trillingsgaard (2022): Implicit bias and negative stereotyping in global software development and why it is time to move on!, In: Journal of Software: Evolution and Process 5(35), doi:10.1002/smr.2435
  • Jeanette Blomberg, Helena Karasti (2013): Reflections on 25 Years of Ethnography in CSCW, In: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 4-6(22), doi:10.1007/s10606-012-9183-1
  • Atique Ahmad Zafar, Shahela Saif, Muzafar Khan, Javed Iqbal, Adnan Akhunzada, Abdul Wadood, Ahmad Al-Mogren, Atif Alamri (2018): Taxonomy of Factors Causing Integration Failure during Global Software Development, In: IEEE Access, doi:10.1109/access.2017.2782843
  • Pernille Bjørn, Morten Esbensen, Rasmus Eskild Jensen, Stina Matthiesen (2014): Does Distance Still Matter? Revisiting the CSCW Fundamentals on Distributed Collaboration, In: ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction 5(21), doi:10.1145/2670534
  • Rasmus Eskild Jensen (2014): Why Closely Coupled Work Matters in Global Software Development, In: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Supporting Group Work, doi:10.1145/2660398.2660425
  • Lingyuan Li, Guo Freeman, Nathan J. McNeese (2022): Channeling End-User Creativity: Leveraging Live Streaming for Distributed Collaboration in Indie Game Development, In: Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction CSCW2(6), doi:10.1145/3555173
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  • Rafael Prikladnicki, Alexander Boden, Gabriela Avram, Cleidson R. B. de Souza, Volker Wulf (2013): Data collection in global software engineering research: learning from past experience, In: Empirical Software Engineering, doi:10.1007/s10664-012-9240-x
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  • Stina Matthiesen, Pernille Bjørn (2016): Let’s Look Outside the Office: Analytical Lens Unpacking Collaborative Relationships in Global Work, In: COOP 2016: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on the Design of Cooperative Systems, 23-27 May 2016, Trento, Italy, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-33464-6_7
  • Stina Matthiesen, Pernille Bjørn, Lise Møller Petersen (2014): "Figure out how to code with the hands of others", In: Proceedings of the 17th ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work & social computing, doi:10.1145/2531602.2531612
  • Helen Sharp, Yvonne Dittrich, Cleidson R. B. de Souza (2016): The Role of Ethnographic Studies in Empirical Software Engineering, In: IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering 8(42), doi:10.1109/tse.2016.2519887
  • George Jamil, Lorena Furbino, Leandro Santos, Marcus Alves, Rafael Santiago, Silvia Loyola (2013): A Design Framework for a Market Intelligence System for Healthcare Sector, In: Handbook of Research on ICTs and Management Systems for Improving Efficiency in Healthcare and Social Care, doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-3990-4.ch014
  • Aditya Johri (2011): Sociomaterial bricolage: The creation of location-spanning work practices by global software developers, In: Information and Software Technology 9(53), doi:10.1016/j.infsof.2011.01.014
  • Stina Matthiesen, Pernille Bjørn (2015): Why Replacing Legacy Systems Is So Hard in Global Software Development, In: Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing, doi:10.1145/2675133.2675232
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