Shared Mental Models and Coordination in Large-Scale, Distributed Software Development

Despite substantial improvements in the last few years in software engineering and collaboration tools, coordination in large-scale software development continues to be problematic. This coordination is important because of the complex interdependencies that exist among software tasks, in that small productivity improvements can lead to substantial cost-savings and competitiveness. Traditional theories suggest that collaborators coordinate by organizing tasks and communicating, but recent research suggests that they also coordinate via implicit mechanisms like shared mental models. However, most of the shared mental model research literature focuses on real-time tasks, and there is very little empirical evidence on how these models affect coordination in more asynchronous and geographically distributed collaboration. Furthermore, none of this evidence is based on large-scale software development organizations. The present research is a field study at a large telecommunications company. It employs qualitative, quantitative, and survey research methods to investigate the effect of shared mental models on coordination in large-scale software development, and to better understand how geographic distance affects coordination

Network Effects in OSS Development: The Impact of Users and Developers on Project Performance

The ability to acquire knowledge is an important determinant of performance for organizations. Developers and users can contribute knowledge to multiple OSS projects, and thereby create links between them through which knowledge can flow and facilitate performance. The contributions a project receives will affect its performance differently depending on the role of the participant and their relationship to other projects. The ability of projects to implement knowledge contributions into code will depend on the level of competition in the knowledge niche in which they exist. We examine how project performance is affected by user- and developer networks, and propose hypotheses relating network density, diversity, and competition to a project’s knowledge contributions and implementation

Flexible Global Software Development (GSD): Antecedents of Success in Requirements Analysis

Globalization of software development has resulted in a rapid shift away from the traditional collocated, on-site development model, to the offshoring model. Emerging trends indicate an increasing interest in offshoring even in early phases like requirements analysis. Additionally, the flexibility offered by the agile development approach makes it attractive for adaptation in globally distributed software work. A question of significance then is what impacts the success of offshoring earlier phases, like requirements analysis, in a flexible and globally distributed environment? This article incorporates the stance of control theory to posit a research model that examines antecedent factors such as requirements change, facilitation by vendor and client site-coordinators, control, and computer-mediated communication. The impact of these factors on success of requirements analysis projects in a “flexible” global setting is tested using two quasi-experiments involving students from Management Development Institute, India and Marquette University, USA. Results indicate that formal modes of control significantly influence project success during requirements analysis. Further, facilitation by both client and vendor site coordinators positively impacts requirements analysis success

Effective communication in globally distributed Scrum teams

Trends in information systems development include the use of globally distributed teams and agile methodologies such as Scrum. Globally distributed (GD) software development challenges team communication. Before we can evaluate effective communication in GD teams using Scrum, we need to know what effective communication means in that context. This study captures the understanding of effective communication based on interviews with industry professionals working in GD Scrum teams and reports on Scrum practices that keep communication effective. From these interviews, we developed a model consisting of communication transparency, communication quality, and communication discipline, leading to the alignment of team understanding. This paper contributes to practitioners’ knowledge about what effective communication means in GD Scrum and describes tools that support communication. The theoretical contribution of the study is a model of effective communication that lays the ground for future research on evaluating Scrum’s effect on communication in GD contexts

Scrum Abandonment in Distributed Teams: A Revelatory Case

The last decade has witnessed substantial growth in the adoption of both Agile and distributed software development. However, combining Agile practices, which emphasize regular informal communication, with geographically and temporally distributed sites, which hinder regular informal communication, presents numerous challenges. Proponents of Agile, especially the Scrum project management framework, have published several case studies of successful Scrum implementations in distributed environments. However, few empirical studies examine failed or abandoned Scrum implementations. Consequently, this paper presents a revelatory case study of a geographically and temporally distributed software development team that abandoned its attempted transition to Scrum. Two factors associated with the team’s decision to abandon Scrum are identified – degradation of Scrum practices due to distribution and the undermining of the ScrumMaster’s credibility. Based on this analysis the paper proposes that task/team familiarity, group cohesion and transactive memory may be combined to understand the relationship between geotemporal distribution, process and performance

Beyond the Individual: A Multidisciplinary Model for Critical Thinking in the Intensive Care Unit

Sugeet K Jagpal,1,* Abdullah Alismail,2,3,* Erica Lin,4 Lauren Blackwell,5 Nayla Ahmed,6 May M Lee,7 Jared Chiarchiaro8 1Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ, USA; 2Department of Cardiopulmonary Sciences, School of Allied Health Professions, Loma Linda University Health, Loma Linda, CA, USA; 3Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA, USA; 4Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA; 5Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital, Icahn School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA; 6Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA; 7Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, University of South California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; 8Division of Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Abdullah Alismail, Department of Cardiopulmonary Sciences, School of Allied Health Professions, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA, USA, Email [email protected]: Health profession educators readily identify with the goal of fostering healthcare providers who are critical thinkers focused on quality patient care. In the following paper, we aim to delve into critical thinking at the team level and help educators begin the process of creating a shared mental model focusing on cognition to identify gaps and opportunities for growth in their trainees. We will distinguish between microcognition (an individual’s own critical thinking process in a controlled environment), macrocognition (critical thinking process in a real-world environment), and team cognition (the interaction and relationship among team members to augment macrocognition). A common case example will be used to guide the discussion as well as provide a model framework to be used for clinician educators in the future.Keywords: medical education, cognition, shared mental models, clinician educator

Toward Building Self-Sustaining Groups in PCR-based Tasks through Implicit Coordination: The Case of Heuristic Evaluation

Usability flaws found in the later stages of the software development process can be extremely costly to resolve. Accordingly, usability evaluation (UE) is an important, albeit usually expensive, part of development. We report on how the inexpensive UE method of heuristic evaluation (HE) can benefit from collaborative software (CSW), implicit coordination, and principles from collaboration engineering. In our study, 439 novice participants were trained in HE methods and then performed HE. Our results show that traditional nominal HE groups can experience implicit coordination through the collaborative software features of group memory and group awareness. One of the key results is that CSW groups had less duplication of effort than traditional nominal groups; these differences were magnified as group size increased from three to six members. Furthermore, because they coordinated less, traditional nominal groups performed more work in the overall process of HE. We attribute the reduction in duplication for CSW-supported groups to the implicit coordination available to them; CSW-supported groups could see violations input by other group members, but could not directly discuss the violations. These findings not only show the power of implicit coordination in groups, but should dramatically change how HE is conducted. These results may also extend to other evaluation tasks, such as software inspection and usability assessment tasks