CFDSD: a Communication Framework for Distributed Software Development

Abstract

Abstract Due to geographical and/or temporal dispersion, communication between teams in distributed software projects is a critical factor for success. Notably, distributed teams suffer adverse physical and temporal dispersion effects during an information exchange. To mitigate problems arising from interactions, it is important to understand the communication structure of teams during distributed projects. The objective of this work is to present the Communication Framework for Distributed Software Development. This framework groups a set of distributed projects communication concepts and enables a unified view of all stakeholders’ intercommunications that use many interaction technologies. The goal of this framework is to portray the dynamics of the interaction between distributed teams in a multi-tier structure, and each tier approaches a single function in the intercommunication process. We analyzed all interactions from distributed teams after developing an experimental IT Project, using the content analysis method to validate the Communication Framework for Distributed Software Development. The main contribution of this work is the framework specification, and the investigation, which has the potential to help mapping communication patterns in DSD. Moreover, this framework comprises interfaces for communication assessment and includes intercommunications from automated engineering tools as bots.

Keywords

• Distributed software development
• Communication
• Project management
• Collaboration