TY - GEN
T1 - The design thinking of co-located vs. distributed software developers
T2 - 15th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Global Software Engineering, ICGSE 2020
AU - Jolak, Rodi
AU - Wortmann, Andreas
AU - Liebel, Grischa
AU - Umuhoza, Eric
AU - Chaudron, Michel R.V.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2020 ACM.
PY - 2020/6/26
Y1 - 2020/6/26
N2 - Context: Designing software is an activity in which software developers think and make design decisions that ultimately shape the structure and behavior of software products. Currently, designing software is one of the least understood activities in which software developers engage. In a collaborative design setting, distances such as geographic, cultural, or social distance can lead to socio-technical challenges that potentially affect the way software is designed. Objective: To contribute to an increased understanding of software design, we investigate how geographic distance affects collaborative software design. Method: To this end, we conducted a multiple-case study exploring in depth the design thinking of co-located and distributed software developers in a collaborative design setting. Results: We find that, compared to co-located developers, distributed developers practice less problem space exploration and focus instead more on the solution space. This could be related to different socio-technical challenges caused by distributed collaboration, such as lack of awareness and common understanding. Conclusion: Our findings contribute to an increased understanding as to how software design is affected by geographic distance. Developers engaging in collaborative design need to be aware that problem space exploration is reduced in a distributed setting, which would adversely affect the development achievement and therefore customer satisfaction.
AB - Context: Designing software is an activity in which software developers think and make design decisions that ultimately shape the structure and behavior of software products. Currently, designing software is one of the least understood activities in which software developers engage. In a collaborative design setting, distances such as geographic, cultural, or social distance can lead to socio-technical challenges that potentially affect the way software is designed. Objective: To contribute to an increased understanding of software design, we investigate how geographic distance affects collaborative software design. Method: To this end, we conducted a multiple-case study exploring in depth the design thinking of co-located and distributed software developers in a collaborative design setting. Results: We find that, compared to co-located developers, distributed developers practice less problem space exploration and focus instead more on the solution space. This could be related to different socio-technical challenges caused by distributed collaboration, such as lack of awareness and common understanding. Conclusion: Our findings contribute to an increased understanding as to how software design is affected by geographic distance. Developers engaging in collaborative design need to be aware that problem space exploration is reduced in a distributed setting, which would adversely affect the development achievement and therefore customer satisfaction.
KW - CSCW
KW - cognitive aspects
KW - collaborative design thinking
KW - distance
KW - empirical study
KW - software engineering
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85093112995
U2 - 10.1145/3372787.3390438
DO - 10.1145/3372787.3390438
M3 - Conference contribution
T3 - Proceedings - 2020 ACM/IEEE 15th International Conference on Global Software Engineering, ICGSE 2020
SP - 106
EP - 116
BT - Proceedings - 2020 ACM/IEEE 15th International Conference on Global Software Engineering, ICGSE 2020
PB - Association for Computing Machinery, Inc
Y2 - 26 June 2020 through 28 June 2020
ER -