Groupware research and technology issues with application to software process management

Technology for actively supporting groups of collaborating users is being applied to many kinds of cooperative work activities. The following topics are addressed: (1) the authors´ definition of groupware, (2) a conceptual framework in which to examine research issues, and (3) high-level groupware research issues within this framework. One potentially fertile area of application for such technologies is the problem of software process management. Software process means one of the teamwork, cooperation, coordination, and communication activities that occur within and across groups and organizations of persons throughout the life of software projects, including processes that occur under the broad categories of proposal writing, software engineering, development, and maintenance. This application domain contains a number of research issues and technology problems in such areas as communication, distribution, concurrence control, and human-computer interface design. The research areas needed for groupware to facilitate software processes are described