Transcript How are Open Source Software Projects Organized and What

How are Open Source Software
Projects Organized and What Makes
Them Successful?
Katherine Stewart
University of Maryland
October 14, 2002
Infonomics Workshop, Brussels
Outline
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Research Questions
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Current Research Projects
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Organization of OSS projects
Antecedents to success
Software Complexity
Longitudinal study
Survey on social coordination/control
Goals
Research Questions
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How are Open Source Software Projects
Organized?
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Applicable literatures
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Organizational Architectures (Carroll & Hannan, 2000)
Social Movements (Morris, 2000)
Voluntary organizations (Cress, McPherson, & Rotolo, 1997)
Virtual teams/groups (DeSanctis & Monge, 1999)
Key Characteristics: Informal boundaries, volunteer
labor, community culture, knowledge sharing,
inexpensive communication , information-based
output
Research Questions
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What leads to success in OSS projects?
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Success indicators– group output, software
quality, usage, others? (DeLone & McLean,
1992)
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Social coordination/control mechanisms –
communication, culture, trust
Group size, domain
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Current Research Projects
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Analysis of software complexity
Longitudinal study of project success
Social coordination mechanisms: survey
of project administrators
Survey project - preliminary
results
R2 0.47
Group
Efficacy
Social
Communication
0.41**
0.21
0.28***
0.10
R2 0.64
Affective
Trust
0.15
Task
Communication
R2 0.45
0.14
Perceived
Effectiveness
0.22*
- 0.15
0.52***
0.50***
R2 0.61
Cognitive
Trust
0.25**
- 0.12
R2 0.13
0.00
- 0.06
CVS
0.27*
- 0.22*
0.15
0.38*
Common
Ideology
Support/
patches
0.38**
Open Source
Ideology
R2 0.07
Controls: group size, development status
Goals
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Understanding of conditions required for
success
Applicability of OSS project organizational
structure to other domains