Parallel Changes in Large Scale Software Development: An Observational Case Study

An essential characteristic of large scale software development is parallel development by teams of developers. How this parallel development is structured and supported has a profound e ect on both the quality and timeliness of the product. We conduct an observational case study in which we collect and analyze the change and con guration management history of a legacy system to delineate the boundaries of, and to understand the nature of, the problems encountered in parallel development. Speci cally we focus on potentially con icting changes that arise for a variety of reasons in a variety of contexts. We then use this understanding in two ways: to evaluate various alternative methodical and technical support for parallel development in terms of their e ectiveness in solving these problems; and to suggest useful avenues of process, tool and management investigations. KEYWORDS Change management, parallel concurrent changes, conguration management, parallel versions, merging interferin...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1998
• Where: ICSE
• Authors: Dewayne E. Perry, Harvey P. Siy, Lawrence G. Votta
• Keywords: ICSE 1998, Parallel Concurrent Changes, Parallel Development, Scale Software Development, Software Engineering