Tracing latent dependencies across software teams through error-handling graphs

It is important to identify and act upon coordination problems within and across distributed software development teams in the context of global software development (GSD). Such problems jeopardize the quality of the system under development, and their identification is paramount to mitigate quality related risks. In this paper, we introduce a visualization tool, namely error-handling graph, that shows the interactions of development teams in terms of the reported and fixed errors during software development, and guides project managers to focus their efforts towards locating root problem causes. We present an example based on the data collected from the issue repository of an industrial project and discuss errorhandling graph’s potential implications. The initial feedback from the piloting industrial team is positive, though a thorough evaluation is still needed. In practice, error graphs could be helpful in identifying the sources of problems and the opportunities for improvement, by creating awareness through data-driven insights for enhancing the way of working within and across software development teams. Author