Towards an Open Source Software Development Life Cycle

Abstract

We develop an Open Source Software (OSS) development lifecycle model by conducting a longitudinal mixed method (qualitative and computational) analysis of a medium-scale OSS project – Ruby on Rails. We use sequence analysis to detect how heterogeneity of routines and the structure of discourse in the project ebbs and flows together. We identify two forms of routines: discourse-driven and direct problem solving routines and trace their proportional distributions over time. We identify three stages of OSS development during a release cycle: a) cleanup: exhibiting a balance between discourse-driven and direct problem solving, b) sedimentation: dominated by direct problem solving, and c) negotiation: dominated by discourse-driven problem solving. These stages manifest different intensities of discursive shaping of software features across the community. We qualitatively explore this discourse and note that discourse-driven problem solving typically is associated with some form of controversy whereas direct problem solving is not. We thus propose a process model distinguishing between discourse-driven and direct problem solving and their different roles throughout the lifecycle.