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Experience Heterogeneity and Team Performance in Distributed Software Projects

Authors:

Igor Cavrak , Ivana Bosnic , Malvina Latifaj, Matteo Camilli

Research groups:

Industrial Software Engineering
Automated Software language and SOftware engineering

Publication Type:

Conference/Workshop Paper

Venue:

The 38th International Conference on software Engineering Education and Training

Abstract

Teaching agile development methodologies through project-based learning in distributed, multi-institutional settings poses significant pedagogical and organizational challenges, amplified by heterogeneous student backgrounds and the need to form effective distributed teams. While team assignment typically relies on motivation and technical skills, experiential factors remain underexplored. This study investigates how prior Scrum and industrial software development experience affect the performance of distributed student projects. At the individual level, we analyze the allocation of key Scrum roles and the relationship between prior experience and project outcomes. At the team level, we examine how heterogeneity in experiential backgrounds relates to collaboration intensity and patterns, product quality, and process quality. The study is based on data from a distributed software development course jointly delivered by three European universities over three academic years, involving 23 student projects. Results reveal variations in role allocation policies and a modest, sometimes counterintuitive, effect of experience heterogeneity on project performance, suggesting the value of incorporating additional experience-based indicators into team formation processes.

Bibtex

@inproceedings{Cavrak7406,
author = {Igor Cavrak and Ivana Bosnic and Malvina Latifaj and Matteo Camilli},
title = {Experience Heterogeneity and Team Performance in Distributed Software Projects},
month = {July},
year = {2026},
booktitle = {The 38th International Conference on software Engineering Education and Training},
url = {http://www.es.mdu.se/publications/7406-}
}