Socio-Technical Congruence: A Framework for Assessing the Impact of Technical and Work Dependencies on Software Development

20 Pages Posted: 9 Feb 2016

See all articles by Marcelo Cataldo

Marcelo Cataldo

DSSD, Inc

James Herbsleb

Carnegie Mellon University - Institute for Software Research International

Kathleen M. Carley

Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon University - H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management; Institute for Software Research - Carnegie Mellon University

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Date Written: March 2008

Abstract

The identification and management of work dependencies is a fundamental challenge in software development organizations. This paper argues that modularization, the traditional technique intended to reduce interdependencies among components of a system, is not a sufficient representation of work dependencies in the context of software development. We build on the idea of congruence proposed by Cataldo et al [10] to examine the relationship between the structure of technical and work dependencies and their impact on software development productivity. Our empirical evaluation of the congruence framework showed that when developers’ coordination patterns are congruent with their coordination needs, the resolution time of modification requests was, on average, reduced by 32%. Those findings highlight the importance of identifying the “right” set of product dependencies that drive the coordination requirements among software developers.

Keywords: collaborative software development, coordination, software dependencies

Suggested Citation

Cataldo, Marcelo and Herbsleb, James and Carley, Kathleen M., Socio-Technical Congruence: A Framework for Assessing the Impact of Technical and Work Dependencies on Software Development (March 2008). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2729291 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2729291

Marcelo Cataldo

DSSD, Inc ( email )

Bohannon Dr.
Menlo Park, CA 94025
United States

James Herbsleb

Carnegie Mellon University - Institute for Software Research International ( email )

United States

Kathleen M. Carley (Contact Author)

Carnegie Mellon University ( email )

Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890
United States
412-268-6016 (Phone)

Carnegie Mellon University - H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management ( email )

Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890
United States

Institute for Software Research - Carnegie Mellon University ( email )

School of Computer Science
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
United States

HOME PAGE: http://isri.cs.cmu.edu/

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