Architecture Design Decisions in Distributed Teams: An Assessment of Tool Support

Abstract

<p>Background. Global Software Engineering (GSE) teams develop software artifacts across multiple locations. Designing and maintaining software in such a setting requires continuous collaboration to record design decisions between distributed teams. The literature presents different architecture design decision (ADD) tools to support design thinking and decision-making. However, recent studies highlight the challenges of managing ADDs in a distributed environment. Aim. This study aims to present a list of assessment metrics to evaluate whether existing ADD tools support distributed collaborative design (DCD) in the GSE environment. Method. We used Goal-Question-Metric (GQM) method and expert survey to define and validate the assessment metrics. Result. Six assessment metrics are presented to evaluate ADD tool support for DCD in the GSE environment. Conclusion. The tool analysis based on assessment metrics provides insights into the current practices used for ADD process and its conformance to the distributed environment.</p>