Understanding the attitudes,knowledge sharing behaviors and task performance of core developers: A longitudinal study |
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| Affiliation: | 1. IEBIS Department, University of Twente, Ravelijn Building, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands. E-mail address: c.amrit@utwente.nl; Phone: +31 (0) 53 489 4064;2. Services, Cyber-security and Safety, The Netherlands. E-mail address: m.daneva@utwente.nl; Phone: 31 53 489 2889;3. Department of Computer Science, University of Victoria, Canada. E-mail address: danielad@cs.uvic.ca; Phone: (250) 472-5788;1. University of Oviedo, Computer Science Department, Calvo Sotelo s/n, 33007 Oviedo, Spain;2. University of South Florida, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, ENB118 Tampa, FL, USA;1. University of Salerno, via Ponte Don Melillo, 81041 Fisciano, SA, Italy;2. University of Molise, C.da Fonte Lappone, 86090 Pesche, IS, Italy;1. Lina - Université de Nantes, 2 rue de la Houssinière, BP 92208 44322, Nantes Cedex 03, France;2. Departamento de Informática, Rua Cel. Francisco H. dos Santos, 100 Centro Politécnico, Jardim das Américas - Curitiba - PR, Caixa Postal: 19081, CEP 81531-980, Brazil;3. Faculty of Science, Technology and Communication, 6, rue Coudenhove-Kalergi, L-1359 Luxembourg-Kirchberg, Luxembourg;4. IRISA Rennes, Campus universitaire de Beaulieu, 263 Avenue du Général Leclerc - CS 74205, 35042 RENNES Cedex, France;1. Department of Informatics, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-3425, USA;2. Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Av. Ipiranga 6681, Faculdade de Informática, Prédio 32, Sala 505, Partenon, Porto Alegre, RS 90619-900, Brazil;1. Technology Center of Software Engineering, Institute of Software, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China;2. Graduate University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China;3. State Key Laboratory of Computer Science, Beijing 100190, China |
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| Abstract: | ContextPrior research has established that a few individuals generally dominate project communication and source code changes during software development. Moreover, this pattern has been found to exist irrespective of task assignments at project initiation.ObjectiveWhile this phenomenon has been noted, prior research has not sought to understand these dominant individuals. Previous work considering the effect of team structures on team performance has found that core communicators are the gatekeepers of their teams’ knowledge, and the performance of these members was correlated with their teams’ success. Building on this work, we have employed a longitudinal approach to study the way core developers’ attitudes, knowledge sharing behaviors and task performance change over the course of their project, based on the analysis of repository data.MethodWe first used social network analysis (SNA) and standard statistical analysis techniques to identify and select artifacts from ten different software development teams. These procedures were also used to select central practitioners among these teams. We then applied psycholinguistic analysis and directed content analysis (CA) techniques to interpret the content of these practitioners’ messages. Finally, we inspected these core developers’ activities as recorded in system change logs at various points in time during systems’ development.ResultsAmong our findings, we observe that core developers’ attitudes and knowledge sharing behaviors were linked to their involvement in actual software development and the demands of their wider project teams. However, core developers appeared to naturally possess high levels of insightful characteristics, which became evident very early during teamwork.ConclusionsProject performance would likely benefit from strategies aimed at surrounding core developers with other competent communicators. Core developers should also be supported by a wider team who are willing to ask questions and challenge their ideas. Finally, the availability of adequate communication channels would help with maintaining positive team climate, and this is likely to mitigate the negative effects of distance during distributed developments. |
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| Keywords: | Core developers Psycholinguistics Content analysis Attitudes Knowledge sharing Task performance |
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