Improving Software Team Communication Through Social Interventions in Project Management Tools

TL;DR

This paper explores how social network analysis can inform the development of project management tool features to improve communication and coordination in software engineering student teams.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to guide students in enhancing team communication through social network analysis-based tool features.

Findings

Assessment of social network analysis for team communication improvement

Development of tool features to promote beneficial team behaviors

Evaluation of features in a student software engineering project

Abstract

Productive software engineering teams require effective communication and balanced contributions between team members. However, teams are often ineffective at these skills, which is detrimental to project success. Project-based university courses are an opportunity for students to practise these skills, but we have yet to establish how we can guide students towards improving their communication and coordination. We aim to develop project management tool features, informed by social network analysis, that nudge students in software engineering group projects towards beneficial behaviours. To do this, we will first evaluate the suitability of social network analysis techniques for identifying areas of improvement in teams' communication. Then, we will develop features in a project management tool that aid students in identifying and addressing these areas of improvement, and evaluate them in the context of a software engineering group project.