The bug fixing process in proprietary and free/libre open source software: A coordination theory analysis

To support business process transformation, we must first be able to represent business processes in a way that allows us to compare and contrast them or to design new ones. In this paper, I use coordination theory to analyze the bug fixing processes in the proprietary operating system development group of a large mini-computer manufacturer and for the Free/Libre Open Source Software Linux operating system kernel. Three approaches to identifying dependencies and coordination mechanisms are presented.