The Origin, Evolution, and Variation of Routine Structures in Open Source Software Development: Three Mixed Computational-Qualitative Studies
Aron Lindberg · OhioLink ETD Center (Ohio Library and Information Network) · 2015
Open Source Software (OSS) is a perplexing and complex context for the study of organizing.Effective coordination is often achieved despite weak, ephemeral, and virtually mediated relationships among volunteering developers.Understanding why this is possible and how such coordination forms emerge can provide us with important insights into how to build capabilities for a wider range of digitally mediated collaboration processes.This dissertation explores the origin, evolution, and variation of routines, which contribute to effective coordination of OSS development tasks.The dissertation is comprised of three separate studies.The first study uses computational sequence analysis and qualitative inquiry to conduct a cross-sectional case study of a single OSS project.This study explores how routines emerge and what information processing functions they serve in supporting coordination of OSS development.The second, longitudinal, case study seeks to show how routines evolve over longer periodsin this case across a multiyear release cycle.This serves as the basis for developing an OSS lifecycle model based on the identified shifts in the dominant routine patterns during consecutive phases of the release cycle.The third, comparative, case study, examines four OSS projects to find out to what extent alternative 'imprinted' problem-solving rationalities shape observed variation in routine structures across the four projects.All these three studies deploy new tools and propose new constructs to explain the origin, evolution, and variation of routines in OSS development.While the dissertation limits itself to study routine-based coordination in the OSS context, the models and methods proposed herein can be generalized for a wider range of virtual (design) contexts with shared 'open' characteristics providing anybody access to shared design artifacts.These contexts foreshadow many new organizing forms that are likely to become more prominent as myriads of products are increasingly designed through digitally supported and distributed collaboration forms.