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66 PART TWO MANAGING SOFTWARE PROJECTS

FIGURE 3.1
6
Value and
Use of Discussion with peers
Coordination
and Documents
Communication Project milestones
Techniques Error tracking reports
Design reviews
5 Requirements reviews Electronic mail
Value of coordination technique 4 Group meetings Code inspections
Status reviews
Collocation

Project bulletins

Source code
Repository data
Formal, impersonal approaches
3
Formal interpersonal procedures
Informal interpersonal procedures
Project control tools
Electronic communication
Interpersonal network

2
2 3 4 5 6
Use of coordination technique

Electronic communication encompasses electronic mail, electronic bulletin
boards, and by extension, video-based conferencing systems.
Interpersonal networking includes informal discussions with team members
and those outside the project who may have experience or insight that can assist
team members.
To assess the efficacy of these techniques for project coordination, Kraul and Streeter
studied 65 software projects involving hundreds of technical staff. Figure 3.1 (adapted
from [KRA95]) expresses the value and use of the coordination techniques just noted.
Referring to figure, the perceived value (rated on a seven point scale) of various coor-
dination and communication techniques is plotted against their frequency of use on
a project. Techniques that fall above the regression line were “judged to be relatively
valuable, given the amount that they were used” [KRA95]. Techniques that fell below
the line were perceived to have less value. It is interesting to note that interpersonal
networking was rated the technique with highest coordination and communication
value. It is also important to note that early software quality assurance mechanisms
(requirements and design reviews) were perceived to have more value than later
evaluations of source code (code inspections).