Supporting collaboration in the development of complex engineering software

Abstract

Software development in engineering firms is a prominent and vital activity, with the success of the business often being dependent on the tools being used. Developing this software requires collaboration between a number of stakeholders, including end-users and other software teams who are often remotely located. This research has used an ethnographic approach to studying communications between stakeholders involved in the development of this type of software. Findings show that users play a vital role in the development team due to their knowledge of the domain and work processes. Supporting this relationship remotely can be challenging, especially due to the reliance on ad-hoc communication strategies. This can sometimes lead to misunderstandings, design rationale being lost, and poor and efficient designs and processes. Lightweight tools that enable flexible design artefacts to be shared and discussed could assist this process and will be investigated in future work.