Software engineering across boundaries: student project in distributed collaboration

• Published in: IEEE transactions on professional communication 1999-12, Vol.42 (4), p.286-296
• Main Authors: Johansson, C., Dittrich, Y., Juustila, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Boundaries; co-operative/collaborative learning; Collaboration; Collaborative software; Collaborative work; Computer science; Cooperation; cross cultural projects; Culture; Data communication; Data communications; Education; Information processing; interdisciplinary projects; pedagogical issues; Programming; Running; Software development; Software engineering; Students; Subcontracting; Systems development; Teachers; Testing
• ISSN: 0361-1434; 1558-1500; 1558-1500
• DOI: 10.1109/47.807967

Geographically distributed software development projects have been made possible by rapid developments primarily within the data communication area. A number of companies recognize that distributed collaboration has great potential for the near future. The article describes the empirical study of a cooperative student project located at two different geographical sites. The project was carried out at two universities: one in Sweden and one in Finland. The initial goals were to give the students the opportunity to learn about the practical aspects of cooperation between two geographically separate institutions and to study specific problems anticipated by the teachers with regard to communication, coordination, language, culture, requirements' handling, testing, and bug fixing. The article focuses on communication and coordination within the cooperative project, as these were identified as the most significant problem areas. We also thought that these areas were the most interesting and the ones most likely to lead to improvements. The article not only describes our findings but also gives hints about what to think about when running similar projects, both with respect to project related issues and teaching issues.