Bio:
I'm a doctoral candidate in the Institute for Software Research at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science. My research interests are in geographically distributed software development and collaborative software engineering. My current research effort focuses on the development and empirical evaluation of mechanisms to measure socio-technical congruence and assess its impact on technical work. I received a BSc in Information Systems Engineering from Universidad Tecnólogica Nacional (Argentina) in 1996 and an MSc in Information Networking from Carnegie Mellon University in 2000. I also received an MSc in Computation, Organizations and Society from Carnegie Mellon University in 2007.
Dissertation Abstract
Geographically distributed software development (GDSD) is becoming pervasive. Hence, the constraints in communication and its negative impact of developers. ability to coordinate effectively is a growing problem that consistently results in sub-par performance of GDSD teams. Past research argues that geographically distributed teams do better when their work is almost independent from each other. In software engineering, modularization is the traditional technique intended to reduce the interdependencies among modules that constitutes a system. The modular design argument suggests that by reducing the technical dependencies, the work dependencies between teams developing interdependent modules are also reduced. Consequently, a modular product structure leads to an equivalent modular task structure. This dissertation argues that modularization is not a sufficient representation of work dependencies in the context of software development and it proposes a method for measuring socio-technical congruence, defined as the relationship between the structure of work dependencies and the coordination patterns of the organization doing the technical work. Two empirical studies assessed the impact of socio-technical congruence on development productivity and product quality. In addition, a third empirical study explores how developers in a geographically distributed software development organization evolve their coordination patterns to overcome the limitations of the modular design approach.
This dissertation has important contributions to the software engineering, CSCW and organizational literatures. First, the empirical evaluation of the congruence framework showed the importance of understanding the dynamic nature of software development. Secondly, this dissertation moves forward our understanding of the relationship between product and work dependencies and software quality. Logical dependencies among software modules and work dependencies were found to be two very significant factors affecting the failure proneness of software modules. Finally, the longitudinal analysis of coordination activities revealed that developers centrally positioned in the social system of information exchanges and coordination activities performed a critical bridging function across formal teams and geographical locations, while contributing a significant portion of the development effort in terms of implementing the software system.
(A summary of my dissertation document is available here)
Dissertation Committee:
Kathleen M. Carley, ISR, CMU (Co-Chair)
James D. Herbsleb, ISR, CMU (Co-Chair)
Len Bass, SEI, CMU
David Redmiles, ICS, UC Irvine
Refereed Publications
Cataldo, M., Bass, M., Herbsleb, J., and Bass, L. (2007). On Coordination Mechanism in Global Software Development. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Global Software Engineering (ICGSE'07), Munich, Germany.
Bass, M., Vesna, M., Bass, L, Herbsleb, J., and Cataldo, M. (2007). Architectural Misalignment: An Experience Report. In Proceedings of the Conference on Software Architecture (WICSA.07), Mumbai, India.
Cataldo, M., Wagstrom, P., Herbsleb, J. and Carley, K. (2006). Identification of Coordination Requirements:
Implications for the Design of Collaboration and Awareness Tools. In Proceedings of the Conference on Computer
Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW'06), Banff, Alberta, Canada - Best Paper Award
Mullick, N, Bass, M., Houda, Z., Paulish, D., Cataldo, M., Herbsleb, J., Bass, L. and Sanqwan, R.(2006). Siemens Global Studio Project: Experiences Adopting an Integrated GSD Infrastructure. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Global Software Engineering, Florianopolis, Brazil
Refereed Workshops, Position Papers & Extended Abstracts
Cataldo, M., Bass, M., Herbsleb, J.D. and Bass, L. (2006). Managing Complexity in Collaborative Software
Development: On the Limits of Modularity". Workshop on Supporting the Social Side of Large-Scale Software Development,
Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW'06), Banff, Alberta, Canada
Frantz, T., Cataldo, M., and Carley, K.M. (2006). Given Error: Evidence for the Construction of Confidence Intervals Around Network Measures. Paper presented at International Sunbelt Social Network Conference (April 24-30, 2006, Vancouver, BC).
Cataldo, M., Wagstrom, P.A, Herbsleb, J.D. and Carley, K.M. (2006). A Fine-Grain Measure of Coordination:
Implications for the Design of Collaboration and Awareness Tools. Paper presented at
HCIC Winter Workshop 2006 (February 1-5, 2006, Fraser, CO).
Cataldo, M. and Carley, K.M. (2001). Modeling Knowledge Sharing in Virtual Organizations. Paper presented at
10th International Conference on Computational Analysis of Social and Organizational Systems (July 7, 2001, Pittsburgh, PA).
www.casos.ece.cmu.edu/CASOS2001
Cataldo,M., Carley, K.M. and Argote, L. (2000). The Effect of Personnel
Selection Schemes on Knowledge Transfer. Paper presented at 9th International Conference on Computational
Analysis of Social and Organizational Systems (July 22, 2000, Pittsburgh, PA).
www.casos.ece.cmu.edu/CASOS2000
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