Mapping team collaboration in software development projects

Abstract

Low success rates continue to plague software development projects (Standish Group, 2006). One often cited reason for project failure is poor communication and coordination across project teams and subgroups, a growing problem as development efforts become more complex and geographically dispersed. Our study examines the use of a soft tool methodology, organizational network analysis (ONA), to help identify patterns in communication that affect performance. In this study we use ONA to examine a mission-critical software development project at a Fortune 200 company in the IT solutions industry. The project began to show time and scope slippage, due in part to challenges in integrating four project teams residing in different locations in the U.S. and Russia. A detailed analysis was performed on who each person on the project was connected to, using what methods of communication, for what reasons. Based on a series of mappings of the projects human network and calculation of key connectivity measures, management was able to diagnose root causes of problems and institute appropriate solutions. After presenting the results of the case study, we offer prescriptive recommendations on how and when ONA can be effectively used as a diagnostic tool in software development and other project environments.