Effective Work Practices for FLOSS Development: A Model and Propositions

We review the literature on Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) development and on software development, distributed work and teams more generally to develop a theoretical model to explain the performance of FLOSS teams. The proposed model is based on Hackman’s [1] model of effectiveness of work teams, with coordination theory [2] and collective mind [3] to extend Hackman’s model by elaborating team practices relevant to effectiveness in software development. We propose a set of propositions to guide further research.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: HICSS
• Authors: Kevin Crowston, Hala Annabi, James Howison, Chengetai Masango
• Keywords: Biometrics, HICSS 2005, Model, Open Source Software, Software Development, System Sciences