Title: Influence of team organisation and forum support for software development team members' interactions

Authors: Heng-Li Yang, Cheng-Hwa Lee

Addresses: MIS Department, National Cheng-Chi University, 64, Sector 2, Chihnan Road, Taipei 116, Taiwan. ' MIS Department, National Cheng-Chi University, 64, Sector 2, Chihnan Road, Taipei 116, Taiwan

Abstract: Software development consists of a series of activities, co-ordinated by the team members who work on it. For any software project to succeed, there should be frequent interactions between the team members to effectively manage the given project. Any business activity undertaken will have to be evaluated on the following lines: 1. do we need to change the existing team structure for software development? and 2. how to apply virtual forums to assist team members| interactions? As compared to common empirical studies, this research applied computer simulation and social network analysis to answer these questions. This paper reports results of simulation and also discusses some managerial implications.

Keywords: team member interactions; software development; social network analysis; project management; team organisation; forum support; simulation; team structure.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISCM.2006.010322

International Journal of Information Systems and Change Management, 2006 Vol.1 No.2, pp.159 - 176

Published online: 14 Jul 2006 *

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