Tools for Collaborative Software Design

Abstract

Software design and development is a collaborative activity, potentiallyinvolvingmanypeople working on inter-dependent activities. Thisinterdependencehasmotivated the development of tools that supportcollaborationin softwaredesign. There is a wide range of suchtools, and thisdiversity isrepresentative of the wide range ofcollaborative activitiesin whichsoftware designers engage. However,as no comprehensivedesign toolexists, designers must integrateheterogeneous toolsto suit theirneed and accept the limitationsof such a toolset.This means frequentmigration between tools asthe context of theirwork evolves. The purposeof this documentis a survey the bodyof tools that comprise this toolset.This willserve to illuminateareas where further tool support is needed,andto motivate thedesign of new tools to address these needs.