Communication patterns in geographically distributed software development and engineers' contributions to the development effort

Abstract

This study seeks to shed light on how communication patterns in geographically distributed software development (GDSD) projects evolve over time and how they relate to developers' contributions to the development effort. Data from two GDSD projects from two distinct companies were collected. The analysis showed that the definition of formal roles had an important impact on patterns of communication across development locations. In one project a group of developers emerged over time as the liaisons between geographical locations. In addition to handling the communication and coordination load across locations, those same engineers contributed the most to the development effort. On the other hand, in the second project, communication across site was formalized and the developers involved in the cross site communication and coordination activities were not as productive.