Abstract
Software development teams communicate differently by using a variety of communication tools. Successful communication leads to competitive software based on clear and quickly delivered re-quirements, as well as smoothness in bug reporting and explanation. Agile and Waterfall software development approaches have both addressed the importance of communication for their process. However, neither Agile nor Waterfall has guaranteed communication effectiveness during their development lifecycle. In this study we highlight the main differences between Agile and Waterfall approaches in the light of Media Richness Theory (MRT). We also identify the preferred commu-nication tools during a project’s lifecycle using both Agile and Waterfall models separately. A mixed-method approach was employed in this study incorporating quantitative and qualitative data from interviews and a multilingual web-based survey. The results are presented descriptively and statistically and a rank ordering of communication tools based on our participants’ preferences leads to a better understanding of how to select the best tool in a given situation. Thus a new updated MRT ranking model tailored for software development environment was developed, as well as, we conclude that communication tools are employed differently based on project stages and team member’s role. These differences in using communication tools could be also attributed to the type of transferable information or personal preferences.
Highlights
Interaction in software development workplaces is inevitably important in order to deliver the Software projects properly, and communication skills have become crucial in bridging interaction’s activities
We investigate the factors that might influence communication tools selectivity in software development environments, and how important these factors to shape our understanding of communication obstacles
This incident consisted of many stages similar to those in software development; in each stage the participant was put in a situation, and they were expected to use one communication tool in order to respond to that situation
Summary
Interaction in software development workplaces is inevitably important in order to deliver the Software projects properly, and communication skills have become crucial in bridging interaction’s activities. We investigate the factors that might influence communication tools selectivity in software development environments, and how important these factors to shape our understanding of communication obstacles. A noise source appears in Shannon’s model as interference with the channel component, which may cause some misinterpreting of the message This model illustrates communication in a simple way, it has been criticized with regard to communication directions and dynamics (it is not a recursive model). Media Synchronicity theory uses the knowledge management concept to create an efficient communication process by emphasising the sharing of information and the building of common understanding amongst communication parties [21]
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