Coordination Challenges in Large-Scale Software Development
Explore the dynamics of coordination in software teams, from identifying pain points to adapting solutions in distributed development environments. Gain insights from a qualitative study and helpful behaviors to address coordination issues effectively. Discover possible fixes for improving coordination through communication and collaboration strategies.
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Presentation Transcript
Effecting Change: Coordination in Large-Scale Software Development Andrew Begel Human Interactions in Programming Microsoft Research CHASE Workshop 2008, Leipzig, Germany
Coordination in Software Teams How does coordination occur between software teams? What are the pain points? How does distributed development affect coordination? Once coordination problems are identified, what next? How can you fix them? How do you adapt solutions to fit the context?
Coordination Study Qualitative, interview-based study of a web services team at Microsoft 32 interviews, 26 people Redmond, WA, USA (20), Boston, MA, USA (3), Hyderabad, India (3) Conducted study with Christopher Poile, Nachi Naggapan and Lucas Layman
A Model of Coordination Communication I would appreciate a week-before update to now if they ll make the date or where they are. couple of times to get an answer. time tomorrow So I m like, why don t you take your 15 minutes right the turnaround is so long for that. I know they have other priorities in We miss out on a lot of those water He doesn t answer email If I have questions, I ll have to ping him a their job They say I will give you cooler conversations what we end up doing is sending an email, and Capacity Distribution now and save me an entire day? Cooperation
Individual Behaviors Unhelpful Behaviors Helpful Behaviors Miscommunication Mistrust Misunderstanding Dysfunction Unmet expectations Differing priorities Unclear ownership Non-transparent decision- making Missing information Prioritizes communication Avoids escalation Listens Aware of problems Reliable, on-time delivery Synchronizes schedules Gives clear instructions Gives feedback Smart, respectful Offers status updates
Possible Fixes: Location Informal meetings happen in hallways Try not to make decisions in informal meetings. Send status updates electronically. Invite non-local team members to discuss decisions.
Possible Fixes: Time Zone Distributed teams feel remote, due to location, time, and lack of face-to-face contact. Get rid of distributed teams. Arrange face-to-face visits between team locations. Hold meetings at times when workday overlaps.
Possible Fixes: Status The lack of information makes people anxious. Hold frequent status meetings with dependencies and post status electronically. Align priorities and schedules with dependents.
Helping Teams Help Themselves It is easy to see the problems. The studied team appreciates your data to 'confirm' their own belief in the problems. But, it is deceptively easy to come up with solutions. Practical, usable changes require buy-in and adaptation from team management.
Evaluating Effective Intervention We need more evidence of solution effectiveness in practice. How do you monitor changes to software development process? Especially in distributed teams, far from researchers? Not easy to adapt solution designs to field situations. Longitudinal evaluation of usefulness can take time and effort. What lessons can be learned from success of Mylyn, Jazz, CoCoMo, Wikis, Agile, CMM?
