Communication in distributed software development: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:25, 28 November 2021

Revision as of 00:40, 25 January 2022

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== Challenges ==

Communication can be hindered by several barriers, such as socio-cultural, linguistic, knowledge, geographical and temporal barriers.<ref>{{Cite book|title=ICGSE 2010 : Fifth International Conference on Global Software Engineering : proceedings : 23-26 August 2010, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.|last1=Engineers.|first1=Institute of Electrical and Electronics|last2=Society.|first2=IEEE Computer|date=2010|publisher=IEEE Computer Society|isbn=9780769541228|oclc=709739809}}</ref>

Socio-cultural barriers can manifest themselves as the means of communication. In fact, a study shows that U.S. and Japanese clients have distinct preferences with regards to them. U.S. clients prefer to communicate frequently via informal telephone and email contacts, while Japanese clients prefer verbal communication and less frequent but formal use of electronic media.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Krishna|first1=S.|last2=Sahay|first2=Sundeep|last3=Walsham|first3=Geoff|date=April 2004|title=Managing Cross-cultural Issues in Global Software Outsourcing|journal=Commun. ACM|volume=47|issue=4|pages=62–66|doi=10.1145/975817.975818|s2cid=207691252|issn=0001-0782}}</ref>

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[[Email]] is a method of exchanging digital messages between people using digital devices such as computers, mobile phones and other electronics. Unlike the most [[instant messaging]] tools, on email neither the users nor their computers are required to be online simultaneously. The cost of using email in company varies, since, for example, the company might have its own email server.

Empirical studies demonstrated that all team members on a software development team used this tool effectively. Unlike [[instant messaging]], email messages are intended to be more stand-alone and less sensitive to the context of communication, and thus producing email messages requires more time than traditional IM messages.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book|last=Niinimaki|first=T.|date=August 2011|chaptertitle=Face-to-Face, Email and Instant Messaging in Distributed Agile Software Development Project|journal=2011 IEEE Sixth International Conference on Global Software Engineering Workshop|pages=78–84|doi=10.1109/icgse-w.2011.15|isbn=978-1-4577-1839-7|s2cid=14348571}}</ref>

Some email providers are [[Gmail]], [[Outlook.com]] and [[ProtonMail]].

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=== Agile ===

Mixing [[Agile software development]] and Distributed Software Development brings a lot of challenges to the team communication.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ramesh|first1=Balasubramaniam|last2=Cao|first2=Lan|last3=Mohan|first3=Kannan|last4=Xu|first4=Peng|date=October 2006|title=Can Distributed Software Development Be Agile?|journal=Commun. ACM|volume=49|issue=10|pages=41–46|doi=10.1145/1164394.1164418|issn=0001-0782|citeseerx=10.1.1.477.201|s2cid=15032365}}</ref> On one hand, [[Agile software development]] demands an increase for informal communication and lacks formal communication, like [[documentation]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Highsmith|first1=J.|last2=Cockburn|first2=A.|date=September 2001|title=Agile software development: the business of innovation|journal=Computer|volume=34|issue=9|pages=120–127|doi=10.1109/2.947100|issn=0018-9162}}</ref> On the other hand, Distributed Software Development makes it difficult to initiate communication, can lead to misunderstandings and increases the communication cost (time, money, etc.) as explained previously [[#Challenges]], which can lead to a decrease on the frequency of communication.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ebert|first1=C.|last2=Neve|first2=P. De|date=March 2001|title=Surviving global software development|journal=IEEE Software|volume=18|issue=2|pages=62–69|doi=10.1109/52.914748|issn=0740-7459}}</ref> This makes the area of study presented of utter importance in [[Distributed Agile Software Development]]. One of its core principles emphasizes the relationships between individuals and their interactions, entailing constant communication.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Agile software development : the cooperative game|last=Alistair.|first=Cockburn|date=2007|publisher=Addison-Wesley|isbn=9780321482754|oclc=70867033}}</ref>

=== Extreme Programming ===

[[Extreme programming]] (XP) was designed for an environment where all developers were co-located,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Extreme programming installed|last1=1967-Anderson|first1=Anderson, Ann|last2first2=Chet.|first2last2=Hendrickson|date=2001|publisher=Addison-Wesley|isbn=978-0201708424|oclc=44518151|url=https://archive.org/details/extremeprogrammi00jeff}}</ref> which is not the case for Distributed Software Development. Furthermore, XP is heavily reliant on continuous communication between stakeholders and developers, which makes communication one of the five core values of XP.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G8EL4H4vf7UC&dq=K.+Beck,+Extreme+Programming+Explained:+Embrace+Change,+second+ed.+Addison-Wesley,+Reading,+MA,+2005&pg=PR13|title=Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change|last=Beck|first=Kent|date=2000|publisher=Addison-Wesley Professional|isbn=9780201616415|language=en}}</ref> Consequently, communication on distributed environment is of utter importance for a XP development environment<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Layman|first1=Lucas|last2=Williams|first2=Laurie|author2-link=Laurie Williams (software engineer)|last3=Damian|first3=Daniela|last4=Bures|first4=Hynek|date=September 2006|title=Essential communication practices for Extreme Programming in a global software development team|journal=Information and Software Technology|series=Special Issue Section: Distributed Software Development|volume=48|issue=9|pages=781–794|doi=10.1016/j.infsof.2006.01.004|citeseerx=10.1.1.463.7225}}</ref> and should be taken into account when applying this methodology on a distributed environment.

== References ==