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An examination of shared understanding in free/libre open source project maintenance

Many problems in software development are rooted in the difficulties of coordination and communication in the software development team. Aranda's Theory of Shared Understanding for Software Organizations explains the role of shared understanding in coordination and suggests four attributes of team interaction that influence shared understanding and, therefore, the quality of coordination. To find evidence supporting this theory, we investigated cases of rework in the bug fixing activities of a Free/Libre Open Source software project. We look at the role of coordination breakdown in these cases of rework and examine them in terms of the theory. We found overall coordination patterns that are consistent with the Theory but we do not find evidence that a lack of shared understanding was a factor of rework in the cases examined.