Architectural task allocation in distributed environment: A traceability perspective

Abstract

Task allocation in distributed development is a challenging task due to intricate dependencies between distributed sites/teams and prior need of multifaceted information. Literature performs task allocation between distributed sites on limited criteria irrespective of the communication and coordination needs of the people. Conway’s law relates product architecture with the communication and coordination needs of the people. Product architecture consists of multiple views based on different perspectives. Task allocation needs information about different architectural views and their interrelationships. Task allocation is also dependent on other factors not depicted in product architecture such as temporal, knowledge and cultural dependencies between distributed sites mentioned as external factors in the research. A well-conceived task allocation strategy will reduce communication and coordination dependency between sites/teams resulting in reduced time delay and smooth distributed development. The research aims to develop and validate a task allocation strategy based on information of system architecture for distributed environment. The strategy would consider all important factors during task allocation resulting in reduced communication and coordination overhead and time delay.