Software engineering whispers: The effect of textual vs. graphical software design descriptions on software design communication

Empirical Software Engineering, vol. 25, pp. 4427–4471

Abstract

Abstract Context Software engineering is a social and collaborative activity. Communicating and sharing knowledge between software developers requires much effort. Hence, the quality of communication plays an important role in influencing project success. To better understand the effect of communication on project success, more in-depth empirical studies investigating this phenomenon are needed. Objective We investigate the effect of using a graphical versus textual design description on co-located software design communication. Method Therefore, we conducted a family of experiments involving a mix of 240 software engineering students from four universities. We examined how different design representations (i.e., graphical vs. textual) affect the ability to Explain, Understand, Recall, and Actively Communicate knowledge. Results We found that the graphical design description is better than the textual in promoting Active Discussion between developers and improving the Recall of design details. Furthermore, compared to its unaltered version, a well-organized and motivated textual design description–that is used for the same amount of time–enhances the recall of design details and increases the amount of active discussions at the cost of reducing the perceived quality of explaining.

Authors 10

1. Rodi Jolak corresponding

   Chalmers University of Technology · University of Gothenburg

   Affiliation as printed

   Chalmers | University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

2. Maxime Savary‐Leblanc corresponding

   Université de Lille

   Affiliation as printed

   Lille University, Lille, France

3. Manuela Dalibor corresponding Aachen

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

4. Andreas Wortmann corresponding Aachen

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

5. Regina Hebig corresponding

   Chalmers University of Technology · University of Gothenburg

   Affiliation as printed

   Chalmers | University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

6. Juraj Vincúr corresponding

   Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava

   Affiliation as printed

   Slovak University of Technology, Bratislava, Slovakia

7. Ivan Polášek corresponding

   Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava

   Affiliation as printed

   Slovak University of Technology, Bratislava, Slovakia

8. Xavier Le Pallec corresponding

   Université de Lille

   Affiliation as printed

   Lille University, Lille, France

9. Sébastien Gérard corresponding

   Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives · Laboratoire d'Intégration des Systèmes et des Technologies

   Affiliation as printed

   CEA LIST, Palaiseau, France

10. Michel R. V. Chaudron corresponding

    Chalmers University of Technology · University of Gothenburg

    Affiliation as printed

    Chalmers | University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden