Structured and Unstructured Teams for Research Software Development at the Netherlands eScience Center

TL;DR

This paper categorizes and analyzes different team structures at the Netherlands eScience Center, highlighting how team types align with project needs and personnel, to improve research software development.

Contribution

It introduces a classification of team types at the Netherlands eScience Center and discusses their suitability for various projects and personnel.

Findings

Different team types suit different project needs.

Team effectiveness depends on project and personnel alignment.

Reflects on strengths and shortcomings of each team model.

Abstract

This paper presents the types of teams that are currently in place at the Netherlands eScience Center. We categorize our teams into four different types: Project Teams, Collectives, Agile Teams and Scrum Teams. We provide a brief description of each team type and share stories from teams themselves to reflect on the strengths and shortcomings of each model. From our observation, we conclude that the type of team that is most suitable for each project depends on the specific needs of that project. More importantly, different types of teams are suitable for the different types of people working at the Netherlands eScience Center.