Performance of Open Source Software Projects

In this study we seek to understand the factors differentiating successful from unsuccessful software projects. This article develops and tests a model measuring the impact on software project performance of (1) software products’ design architectures and (2) developers’ positions within collaborative networks. Two indicators of project success are used: product quality and project velocity. Two dimensions of design architecture – degree of decomposition and coupling – and one characteristic of developer network structures – degree centrality– are investigated for their impact on project performance. Using data gathered from SourceForge.net and its monthly dumps, we empirically test hypotheses on the top 100 projects according to project rankings. These rankings are generated from the traffic, communication, and development statistics collected for each project hosted on SourceForge.net. Besides the top 100 projects, we also randomly choose another 100 projects to form the data sample. The main findings are that (1) the degree of decomposition has an inverted U-shaped relationship with project performance, (2) when tested on the sample of top 100 projects, average degree centrality of a project team has a positive and significant effect on project performance and (3) the effects of network metrics on some of project performances are positive in the top 100 projects and some of them are negative in the random 100 projects. We employ some control variables such as developer work experiences and sponsorship, to provide insight into the direction of the effect of degree centrality on project success. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and several future research directions are outlined.