To develop systems effectively, a shared system understanding is required. Collaborative modeling is one way to capture this shared understanding. Increasingly, in large systems engineering projects different distances lead to social barriers between stakeholders. These barriers affect the quantity and quality of knowledge that is shared between stakeholders, thus reducing the quality of the resulting product. While it has been proposed to limit modeling activities to co-located teams, this might not always be possible or feasible. We argue that, despite the technological advances in collaborative modeling, effective collaboration can only be achieved if we understand how to account for social barriers. We propose to study, in depth, how these barriers affect modeling, and how their effects can be reduced. By understanding the effects of social barriers and accounting for them, we can maximize the benefits of collaborative modeling.

1. Knowledge Sharing
and Distances in
Collaborative Modeling
Rodi Jolak Grischa Liebel
September 16, 2019 HuFaMo @MODELS, Munich

2. Motivation
• Software engineering is a collaborative activity.
• When globalized, software modeling could become
less effective.
• Research on software modeling:
o Artifacts
o Practice & Cognition.
2

3. 3
Case 1: MathWorks
Matlab & Simulink
Case 2: PolarSys
Papyrus & Capella
Two Teams
Collaborative MBE
 Jolak, et al. "Model-Based Software Engineering: A Multiple-Case Study on Challenges and
Development Efforts." In Proceedings of the 21th ACM/IEEE International Conference on
Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems (MoDELS), pp. 213-223. ACM, 2018.

4. 4
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Effort%
MathWorks PolarSys
Effort distribution in MBE

5. 5
How large is the portion of
collaborative work in MBE projects?

6. • 12 Professional Developers
• Challenge: Create a software design of
a simulator that should enable its users
to investigate the effects of different
signal timing on traffic flow.
• Case 1: Co-location
• Case 2: Distribution
Collaborative, Distributed Modeling
6
 Jolak, et al. "Does Distance Still Matter? Revisiting Collaborative Distributed Software Design."
IEEE Software 35, no. 6, 40-47. 2018.

7. Case 1
7
Can you
explain this ?
Yes,
of course!
Co-location
(6 developers: 3 teams of two people)
USA

8. SwedenGermany
Internet
Geographic Distance
Case 2
8
OctoUML
Can you
explain this ?
OctoUML
Yes,
of course!
Distribution
(6 developers: 3 teams of two people)

9. Results (1/2)
9
• We
Figure 1. The number of design decisions, awareness, and technical issues per each
co-located team (C1–C3) and distributed team (D1–D3).

10. Results (2/2)
10
Figure 2. The categories of collaborative discussions (communications)
made in each design session.
Disagree, Propose Exception, Doubt, Etc.

11. Results (2/2)
11
Figure 2. The categories of collaborative discussions (communications)
made in each design session.
Coordinate, Summarize Info, Etc.

12. MBE
Collaboration
Social Challenges!
Research Context
12

13. Knowledge Sharing
13
Proposition A: We can increase the effectiveness of
collaborative modeling by:
 investigating why people are not able or eager to
share knowledge.
 developing methods that trigger knowledge sharing.
Cognitive Factors Motivational Factors

14. Proposition B: We can increase the effectiveness of
collaborative modeling by:
 investigating the effect of distances in geography,
culture, personality, and beliefs on team behavior.
 developing methods to account for these distances.
Overcoming Social Distances
14
Culture BeliefsPersonality
 N. Lehmann-Willenbrock et al. “Observing culture: Differences in us-american and german team
meeting behaviors,” Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 252– 271, 2014.
 G. A. Neuman et al. “The relationship between work-team personality composition and the job
performance of teams,” Group & Organization Management, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 28–45, 1999
 C. Passos et al. “Analyzing the impact of beliefs in software project practices,” in International
Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement. IEEE, 2011, pp. 444–452.

15. • Software engineering is a socio-technical endeavor.
• Research is focusing on investigating technological
solutions for assisting collaborative modeling.
• There is a need for more research on human factors
in collaborative modeling.
Summary
15
Thank you for your attention!
www.rodijolak.com
www.grischaliebel.de