Inter-Team Communication in Large-Scale Co-Located Software Engineering: A Case Study
Bjarnason, Elizabeth LU
; Gislason Bern, Baldvin
and Svedberg, Linda
(2022)
In Empirical Software Engineering
27(2).
- Abstract
- Large-scale software engineering is a collaborative effort where teams need to communicate to develop software products. Managers face the challenge of how to organise work to facilitate necessary communication between teams and individuals. This includes a range of decisions from distributing work over teams located in multiple buildings and sites, through work processes and tools for coordinating work, to softer issues including ensuring well-functioning teams. In this case study, we focus on inter-team communication by considering geographical, cognitive and psychological distances between teams, and factors and strategies that can affect this communication. Data was collected for ten test teams within a large development organisation,... (More)
- Large-scale software engineering is a collaborative effort where teams need to communicate to develop software products. Managers face the challenge of how to organise work to facilitate necessary communication between teams and individuals. This includes a range of decisions from distributing work over teams located in multiple buildings and sites, through work processes and tools for coordinating work, to softer issues including ensuring well-functioning teams. In this case study, we focus on inter-team communication by considering geographical, cognitive and psychological distances between teams, and factors and strategies that can affect this communication. Data was collected for ten test teams within a large development organisation, in two main phases: (1) measuring cognitive and psychological distance between teams using interactive posters, and (2) five focus group sessions where the obtained distance measurements were discussed. We present ten factors and five strategies, and how these relate to inter-team communication. We see three types of arenas that facilitate inter-team communication, namely physical, virtual and organisational arenas. Our findings can support managers in assessing and improving communication within large development organisations. In addition, the findings can provide insights into factors that may explain the challenges of scaling development organisations, in particular agile organisations that place a large emphasis on direct communication over written documentation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/9044be18-8005-4ba7-89d9-e05d6fefa3a8
- author
- Bjarnason, Elizabeth
LU
; Gislason Bern, Baldvin
and Svedberg, Linda
- organization
- publishing date
- 2022-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- communication, Software engineering, distance, Case Study, Agile
- in
- Empirical Software Engineering
- volume
- 27
- issue
- 2
- pages
- 43 pages
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85122321795
- ISSN
- 1573-7616
- DOI
- 10.1007/s10664-021-10027-z
- project
- Embedded Applications Software Engineering
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 9044be18-8005-4ba7-89d9-e05d6fefa3a8
- alternative location
- https://rdcu.be/cEpDw
- date added to LUP
- 2021-08-19 13:18:16
- date last changed
- 2023-10-04 02:47:45
@article{9044be18-8005-4ba7-89d9-e05d6fefa3a8,
abstract = {{Large-scale software engineering is a collaborative effort where teams need to communicate to develop software products. Managers face the challenge of how to organise work to facilitate necessary communication between teams and individuals. This includes a range of decisions from distributing work over teams located in multiple buildings and sites, through work processes and tools for coordinating work, to softer issues including ensuring well-functioning teams. In this case study, we focus on inter-team communication by considering geographical, cognitive and psychological distances between teams, and factors and strategies that can affect this communication. Data was collected for ten test teams within a large development organisation, in two main phases: (1) measuring cognitive and psychological distance between teams using interactive posters, and (2) five focus group sessions where the obtained distance measurements were discussed. We present ten factors and five strategies, and how these relate to inter-team communication. We see three types of arenas that facilitate inter-team communication, namely physical, virtual and organisational arenas. Our findings can support managers in assessing and improving communication within large development organisations. In addition, the findings can provide insights into factors that may explain the challenges of scaling development organisations, in particular agile organisations that place a large emphasis on direct communication over written documentation.}},
author = {{Bjarnason, Elizabeth and Gislason Bern, Baldvin and Svedberg, Linda}},
issn = {{1573-7616}},
keywords = {{communication; Software engineering; distance; Case Study; Agile}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{2}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{Empirical Software Engineering}},
title = {{Inter-Team Communication in Large-Scale Co-Located Software Engineering: A Case Study}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10664-021-10027-z}},
doi = {{10.1007/s10664-021-10027-z}},
volume = {{27}},
year = {{2022}},
}