Abstract

We examine the role of face-to-face meetings in the context of technology-supported self-organizing distributed (or virtual teams), specifically free/libre open source software (FLOSS) development teams. Based on a qualitative inductive analysis of data from interviews and observations at FLOSS conferences, we identify a variety of settings in which developers meet face-to-face, and we point out the activities performed in these settings and the benefits obtained. Contrary to conventional wisdom about distributed teams, FLOSS developers generally do not meet face-to-face until the project is well under way. An additional benefit of face-to-face meetings is time away from a regular job and speed of interaction for certain kinds of tasks.

Journal
IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
Published
2007-09-01
DOI
10.1109/tpc.2007.902654
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (6)

  1. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  2. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  3. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  4. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  5. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Show all 6 →
  1. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication

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