Bad Smells of Communication in Multidisciplinary Agile Teams of a Remote Software Project
Resumo
Remote agile teams often face “communication bad smells” which undermine collaboration and project outcomes. The research investigated these symptoms in a remote project, identifying categories of bad smells and proposing mitigation strategies. A case study with a mixed-methods design was conducted through a survey applied to nine members of a remote project, combining quantitative metrics of frequency and quality with qualitative perceptions. Five critical bad smells were identified (Broken Schedule, Expertise Silos, Information Black Hole, Invisible Decisions, and Process Drift), and practical mitigation strategies (rotating meeting schedules, centralized knowledge bases, and decision logs).Referências
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Costa, V. G. e França, C. (2020). How office layouts influence software development? In Proceedings of the XXXIV Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering, pages 173–182.
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Desouza, K. C. e Evaristo, J. R. (2004). Managing knowledge in distributed projects. Communications of the ACM, 47(4):87–91.
Diel, E., Marczak, S., e Cruzes, D. S. (2016). Communication challenges and strategies in distributed devops. In 2016 IEEE 11th International Conference on Global Software Engineering (ICGSE), pages 24–28. IEEE.
Dingsøyr, T., Nerur, S., Balijepally, V., e Moe, N. B. (2012). A decade of agile methodologies: Towards explaining agile software development.
Espinosa, J. A. e Carmel, E. (2003). The impact of time separation on coordination in global software teams: a conceptual foundation. Software Process: Improvement and Practice, 8(4):249–266.
Fowler, M. (2018). Refactoring: improving the design of existing code. Addison-Wesley Professional.
Garro-Abarca, V., Palos-Sanchez, P., e Aguayo-Camacho, M. (2021). Virtual teams in times of pandemic: Factors that influence performance. Frontiers in psychology, 12:624637.
Ghobadi, S. e Mathiassen, L. (2016). A model for assessing and mitigating knowledge sharing risks in agile software development. Information Systems Journal, pages 1–33.
Herbsleb, J. D. e Moitra, D. (2001). Global software development. IEEE software, 18(2):16–20.
Jansen, A. e Bosch, J. (2005). Software architecture as a set of architectural design decisions. In 5th Working IEEE/IFIP Conference on Software Architecture (WICSA’05), pages 109–120. IEEE.
Kostin, D. e Strode, D. (2022). Effective communication in globally distributed scrum teams. ACIS 2022 Proceedings.
Kruchten, P. (2010). Software architecture and agile software development: a clash of two cultures? In Proceedings of the 32nd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering-Volume 2, pages 497–498.
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Lindvall, M., Muthig, D., Dagnino, A., Wallin, C., Stupperich, M., Kiefer, D., May, J., e Kahkonen, T. (2004). Agile software development in large organizations. Computer, 37(12):26–34.
Lupton, R. e Allwood, J. (2017). Hybrid sankey diagrams: Visual analysis of multidimensional data for understanding resource use. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 124:141–151.
Meyer, A. N., Fritz, T., Murphy, G. C., e Zimmermann, T. (2014). Software developers’ perceptions of productivity. In Proceedings of the 22nd ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on Foundations of Software Engineering, FSE 2014, pages 19–29. ACM.
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Rauf, M. A., Bibi, S., Ali, S., AlSaedi, T., Ur Rehman, S., Mahmood, K., e Kundi, M. (2023). A cost effective communication model for requirements elicitation in global software development. Scientific Reports, 13(1):18730.
Riehmann, P., Hanfler, M., e Froehlich, B. (2005). Interactive sankey diagrams. In IEEE Symposium on Information Visualization, 2005. INFOVIS 2005., pages 233–240. IEEE.
Riungu-Kalliosaari, L., Mäkinen, S., Lwakatare, L. E., Tiihonen, J., e Männistö, T. (2016). Devops adoption benefits and challenges in practice: A case study. In Product-Focused Software Process Improvement: 17th International Conference, PROFES 2016, Trondheim, Norway, November 22-24, 2016, Proceedings 17, pages 590–597. Springer.
Smite, D., Moe, N. B., Levinta, G., e Floryan, M. (2019). Spotify guilds: how to succeed with knowledge sharing in large-scale agile organizations. Ieee Software, 36(2):51–57.
Šmite, D., Moe, N. B., Šāblis, A., e Wohlin, C. (2017). Software teams and their knowledge networks in large-scale software development. Information and Software Technology, 86:71–86.
Storey, M.-A., Zagalsky, A., Figueira Filho, F., Singer, L., e German, D. M. (2016). How social and communication channels shape and challenge a participatory culture in software development. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 43(2):185–204.
Storey, M.-A., Zagalsky, A., Filho, F. F., Singer, L., e German, D. M. (2017). How software developers use Slack channels to foster collaboration. In Proceedings of the 20th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, CSCW ’17, pages 2511–2525. ACM.
Tiwana, A. (2004). An empirical study of the effect of knowledge integration on software development performance. Information and Software Technology, 46(13):899–906.
Tiwana, A. e Keil, M. (2004). The one-minute risk assessment tool. Communications of the ACM, 47(11):73–77.
Van Deursen, A., Moonen, L., Van Den Bergh, A., e Kok, G. (2001). Refactoring test code. In Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on extreme programming and flexible processes in software engineering (XP2001), pages 92–95. Citeseer.
Wang, Y., Graziotin, D., Kriso, S., e Wagner, S. (2019). Communication channels in safety analysis: An industrial exploratory case study. Journal of systems and software, 153:135–151.
Weger, K., Leder, S., Mesmer, B., Menon, V., e Schaub, H. (2022). How effectively do we communicate? an analysis of team reflexivity in transition and action phases of team collaboration. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 65(3):392–410.
Zahedi, M. e Babar, M. A. (2014). Knowledge sharing for common understanding of technical specifications through artifactual culture. In Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering, pages 1–10.
Beck, K., Beedle, M., Van Bennekum, A., Cockburn, A., Cunningham, W., Fowler, M., Grenning, J., Highsmith, J., Hunt, A., Jeffries, R., et al. (2001). The agile manifesto.
Begel, A., Nagappan, N., Poile, C., e Layman, L. (2009). Coordination in large-scale software teams. In 2009 ICSE Workshop on Cooperative and Human Aspects on Software Engineering, pages 1–7. IEEE.
Bjørnson, F. O. e Dingsøyr, T. (2008). Knowledge management in software engineering: A systematic review of studied concepts, findings and research methods used. Information and software technology, 50(11):1055–1068.
Boehm, B. e Turner, R. (2005). Management challenges to implementing agile processes in traditional development organizations. IEEE Software, 22(5):30–39.
Boscarioli, C., Araujo, R. M., e de S. P. Maciel, R. (2017). GranDSI-BR – Grand Research Challenges in Information Systems in Brazil 2016–2026. Special Committee on Information Systems (CE-SI), Brazilian Computer Society (SBC).
Cataldo, M. e Herbsleb, J. D. (2012). Coordination breakdowns and their impact on development productivity and software failures. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 39(3):343–360.
Costa, V. G. e França, C. (2020). How office layouts influence software development? In Proceedings of the XXXIV Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering, pages 173–182.
Creswell, J. W. e Creswell, J. D. (2017). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications.
Desouza, K. C. e Evaristo, J. R. (2004). Managing knowledge in distributed projects. Communications of the ACM, 47(4):87–91.
Diel, E., Marczak, S., e Cruzes, D. S. (2016). Communication challenges and strategies in distributed devops. In 2016 IEEE 11th International Conference on Global Software Engineering (ICGSE), pages 24–28. IEEE.
Dingsøyr, T., Nerur, S., Balijepally, V., e Moe, N. B. (2012). A decade of agile methodologies: Towards explaining agile software development.
Espinosa, J. A. e Carmel, E. (2003). The impact of time separation on coordination in global software teams: a conceptual foundation. Software Process: Improvement and Practice, 8(4):249–266.
Fowler, M. (2018). Refactoring: improving the design of existing code. Addison-Wesley Professional.
Garro-Abarca, V., Palos-Sanchez, P., e Aguayo-Camacho, M. (2021). Virtual teams in times of pandemic: Factors that influence performance. Frontiers in psychology, 12:624637.
Ghobadi, S. e Mathiassen, L. (2016). A model for assessing and mitigating knowledge sharing risks in agile software development. Information Systems Journal, pages 1–33.
Herbsleb, J. D. e Moitra, D. (2001). Global software development. IEEE software, 18(2):16–20.
Jansen, A. e Bosch, J. (2005). Software architecture as a set of architectural design decisions. In 5th Working IEEE/IFIP Conference on Software Architecture (WICSA’05), pages 109–120. IEEE.
Kostin, D. e Strode, D. (2022). Effective communication in globally distributed scrum teams. ACIS 2022 Proceedings.
Kruchten, P. (2010). Software architecture and agile software development: a clash of two cultures? In Proceedings of the 32nd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering-Volume 2, pages 497–498.
Kruchten, P., Lago, P., e Van Vliet, H. (2006). Building up and reasoning about architectural knowledge. In International conference on the quality of software architectures, pages 43–58. Springer.
Lindvall, M., Muthig, D., Dagnino, A., Wallin, C., Stupperich, M., Kiefer, D., May, J., e Kahkonen, T. (2004). Agile software development in large organizations. Computer, 37(12):26–34.
Lupton, R. e Allwood, J. (2017). Hybrid sankey diagrams: Visual analysis of multidimensional data for understanding resource use. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 124:141–151.
Meyer, A. N., Fritz, T., Murphy, G. C., e Zimmermann, T. (2014). Software developers’ perceptions of productivity. In Proceedings of the 22nd ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on Foundations of Software Engineering, FSE 2014, pages 19–29. ACM.
Murphy-Hill, E., Jaspan, C., Sadowski, C., Shepherd, D., Phillips, M., Winter, C., Knight, A., Smith, E., e Jorde, M. (2019). What predicts software developers’ productivity? IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 47(3):582–594.
Neeley, T. (2021). Remote work revolution: Succeeding from anywhere. Harper Business London, UK:.
Olson, G. M. e Olson, J. S. (2000). Distance matters. Human–computer interaction, 15(2-3):139–178.
Rauf, M. A., Bibi, S., Ali, S., AlSaedi, T., Ur Rehman, S., Mahmood, K., e Kundi, M. (2023). A cost effective communication model for requirements elicitation in global software development. Scientific Reports, 13(1):18730.
Riehmann, P., Hanfler, M., e Froehlich, B. (2005). Interactive sankey diagrams. In IEEE Symposium on Information Visualization, 2005. INFOVIS 2005., pages 233–240. IEEE.
Riungu-Kalliosaari, L., Mäkinen, S., Lwakatare, L. E., Tiihonen, J., e Männistö, T. (2016). Devops adoption benefits and challenges in practice: A case study. In Product-Focused Software Process Improvement: 17th International Conference, PROFES 2016, Trondheim, Norway, November 22-24, 2016, Proceedings 17, pages 590–597. Springer.
Smite, D., Moe, N. B., Levinta, G., e Floryan, M. (2019). Spotify guilds: how to succeed with knowledge sharing in large-scale agile organizations. Ieee Software, 36(2):51–57.
Šmite, D., Moe, N. B., Šāblis, A., e Wohlin, C. (2017). Software teams and their knowledge networks in large-scale software development. Information and Software Technology, 86:71–86.
Storey, M.-A., Zagalsky, A., Figueira Filho, F., Singer, L., e German, D. M. (2016). How social and communication channels shape and challenge a participatory culture in software development. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 43(2):185–204.
Storey, M.-A., Zagalsky, A., Filho, F. F., Singer, L., e German, D. M. (2017). How software developers use Slack channels to foster collaboration. In Proceedings of the 20th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, CSCW ’17, pages 2511–2525. ACM.
Tiwana, A. (2004). An empirical study of the effect of knowledge integration on software development performance. Information and Software Technology, 46(13):899–906.
Tiwana, A. e Keil, M. (2004). The one-minute risk assessment tool. Communications of the ACM, 47(11):73–77.
Van Deursen, A., Moonen, L., Van Den Bergh, A., e Kok, G. (2001). Refactoring test code. In Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on extreme programming and flexible processes in software engineering (XP2001), pages 92–95. Citeseer.
Wang, Y., Graziotin, D., Kriso, S., e Wagner, S. (2019). Communication channels in safety analysis: An industrial exploratory case study. Journal of systems and software, 153:135–151.
Weger, K., Leder, S., Mesmer, B., Menon, V., e Schaub, H. (2022). How effectively do we communicate? an analysis of team reflexivity in transition and action phases of team collaboration. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 65(3):392–410.
Zahedi, M. e Babar, M. A. (2014). Knowledge sharing for common understanding of technical specifications through artifactual culture. In Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering, pages 1–10.
Publicado
19/07/2026
Como Citar
LOBATO, Cesar; PORTELA, Carlos; SOUZA, Maurício; PALOMINO, Paula; LISBÔA, Rodrigo; CORDEIRO, Thiago.
Bad Smells of Communication in Multidisciplinary Agile Teams of a Remote Software Project. In: WORKSHOP SOBRE ASPECTOS SOCIAIS, HUMANOS E ECONÔMICOS DE SOFTWARE (WASHES), 11. , 2026, Gramado/RS.
Anais [...].
Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação,
2026
.
p. 47-58.
ISSN 2763-874X.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/washes.2026.20956.
