Open Source Software Development

Abstract

Open source software development (OSSD) is a community-oriented, network-centric approach to building complex software systems. OSSD projects are typically organized as virtual enterprises that lack an explicit managerial regime to control and coordinate decentralized project work. However, a growing number of OSSD projects are developing, delivering, and supporting large-scale software systems that are displacing proprietary software alternatives. Recent empirical studies of OSSD projects reveal that OSS developers often self-organize into organizational forms we characterize as evolving socio-technical interaction networks (STINs). These STINs emerge in ways that effectively control semi-autonomous OSS developers and coordinate project activities to produce reliable and adaptive software systems. In this paper, we examine how practices and processes enable and govern decentralized organizations like OSSD projects when coalesced and configured as contingent, socio-technical interaction networks. In so doing, we draw on results from two ongoing case studies of leadership and governance activities and elements in a small and a large OSSD project.