Effective work practices for Open Source Software development

在这个项目中，PI将解决一般的研究问题：什么样的实践使一些自由/自由开源软件（FLOSS）开发团队比其他人更有效？ 为此，PI将进行一项三阶段的社会科学研究，确定和比较效率较高和较低的FLOSS开发团队的工作实践。 这项研究的概念基础来自哈克曼的工作团队的有效性模型，并建立在PI的先前工作，涉及协调理论和集体的头脑，以扩展哈克曼的模型，进一步阐述团队的做法，有关软件开发。 根据已发表的关于共享心智模型（特别是集体心智理论）的文献，PI将把注意力集中在发展和展示共享理解的行动上。 协调理论建议识别任务，任务和资源之间的相互依赖关系以及所采用的协调机制。 在第一阶段，PI将对FLOSS项目进行普查，以确定感兴趣的开发团队以及似乎有希望进行进一步深入研究的概念和关系。 在第二阶段，他将对大约8个分布式FLOSS开发团队进行深入的多案例研究，以测试和扩展提案中开发的模型。 在第三阶段，他将使用第二阶段开发的指标和工具收集和分析数百个团队的数据，以概括这些发现。 第三阶段还将包括开发商调查。 考虑的数据将包括项目和开发人员的人口统计数据、交互日志、代码、访谈、观察和参与者观察。 数据将被分析以描述软件开发实践和过程、团队社交网络和开发人员共享的心智模型。 在整个项目的所有阶段，研究将由一个咨询委员会的开放源码软件的开发人员，以确保相关性，并帮助促进传播的结果付诸实践。更广泛的影响：该项目将有助于提高知识和了解开放源码软件的发展，通过确定有效的做法，开放源码软件的发展，越来越重要的软件开发方法。 这项研究还将阐明分布式工作团队的有效做法，这将是有价值的管理人员谁打算实施这样的组织形式。 这项研究的结果也可用于加强信息和通信技术（ICT）用于支持远程教育或科学合作的方式。 PI将向其他研究人员提供所收集的工具和原始数据。

In this project, the PI will address the general research question: what practices make some Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) development teams more effective than others? To this end, the PI will conduct a three-phase social science study identifying and comparing the work practices of more and less effective FLOSS development teams. The conceptual basis for the study derives from Hackman's model of work team effectiveness, and builds on the PI's prior work involving coordination theory and collective mind to extend Hackman's model by further elaborating team practices relevant to software development. In light of the published literature on shared mental models (collective mind theory in particular), the PI will focus his attention on actions that develop and exhibit shared understandings. Coordination theory suggests identifying tasks, interdependences among tasks and resources and the coordination mechanisms that are adopted. During Phase I, the PI will conduct a census of FLOSS projects in order to identify development teams of interest and concepts and relationships that seem promising for further in-depth study. During Phase II, he will conduct an in-depth multiple case study of approximately 8 distributed FLOSS development teams, to test and extend the model developed in the proposal. During Phase III, he will collect and analyze data on hundreds of teams using the metrics and tools developed in Phase II, in order to generalize those findings. Phase III will also include a developer survey. Data considered will include project and developer demographics, interaction logs, code, interviews, observation and participant observation. Data will be analyzed to describe software development practices and processes, team social networks, and shared mental models of developers. Throughout all phases of the project, the research will be guided by an advisory board of FLOSS developers to ensure relevance and to help promote diffusion of findings into practice.Broader Impact: The project will contribute to advancing knowledge and understanding of FLOSS development, by identifying the effective practices for FLOSS development, an increasingly important approach to software development. The study will also shed light on effective practices for distributed work teams in general, which will be valuable for managers who intend to implement such an organizational form. Findings from the study may also be used to enhance the way information and communication technologies (ICT) are used to support distance education or for scientific collaboration. The PI will make the tools and raw data collected available to other researchers.