Management Science & Engineering

Rosanne M. Siino, Ph.D.     

Articles & Publications
Text Box: Interruptions on Software Teams: A Comparison of Paired and Solo Programmers Jan Chong, Rosanne Siino ABSTRACT This study explores interruption patterns among software developers who program in pairs versus those who program solo. Ethnographic observations indicate that interruption length, content, type, occurrence time, and interrupter and interruptee strategies differed markedly for radically collocated pair programmers versus the programmers who primarily worked alone. After presenting an analysis of 242 interruptions drawn from more than 40 hours of observation data, we discuss how team configuration and work setting influenced how and when developers handled interruptions. We then suggest ways that CSCW systems might better support pair programming and, more broadly, provide interruption-handling support for workers in knowledge-intensive occupations. Collaboration in Distributed Teams: Evidence for the Importance of Time Presenting Author: Stine Grodal, Stanford University, Mgt. Science & Eng., Terman Building, Stanford CA 94306-4026, USA, grodal@stanford.edu Co-Author: Andrew Nelson, Stanford University, Mgt. Science & Eng., Terman Building, Stanford CA 94305-4026, USA, andrew.nelson@stanford.edu Rosanne Siino, Stanford University, Mgt. Science & Eng., Terman Building, Stanford CA 94305-4026, USA, rosanne@siino.org ABSTRACT: Research on distributed collaboration typically examines the impact of physical distribution on team cohesion or communication effectiveness. Alternatively, our ethnographic study of three distributed technical teams at a global high technology company suggests that the notion of time is central to understanding the work practices and collaboration of distributed teams. Negotiating Schedules: Creating Work Flow in Distributed Groups ABSTRACT: The move towards a globalization of work implicates that distributed teams are crucially involved in innovation processes. This development challenges the way innovative work is organized. How workers actually spend their time during the workday is often based not upon their preset schedules but rather upon a series of negotiations among co-workers. To the extent that workers are dependent on and responsive to one another and to outside influences, interactions among these players prompt a constant revision of planned schedules. Based on an ethnographic study of three geographically distributed work teams, we contend that the nature of these negotiations is shaped by both social and technical structures within the workplace. The impact of geographic distribution on the ability of workers to change each other’s work schedules is dependent on and resultant from the effect that physical separation has on these intermediary social and technical structures. We therefore argue that understanding distributed innovation and collaboration requires a focus not only on the effects of geographic distance per se, but also on the impact of distance on time. Robots, Gender & Sensemaking: Sex Segregation’s Impact on Workers Making Sense of a Mobile Autonomous Robot Siino, R. & Hinds, P. (2005). Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Barcelona, Spain. ABSTRACT: This ethnographic study suggests that social structures such as the sex segregation of jobs may impact how different groups of workers make sense of robots in their work environment. Designers may need to take such structures into account if mobile autonomous robots are to operate successfully alongside humans in the workplace. Making Sense of New Technology as a Lead-In to Structuring: The Case of an Autonomous Mobile Robot Siino, R. & Hinds, P. (2004). Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings, New Orleans, OCIS E1-E6. ABSTRACT: Over the last several decades, numerous studies have considered the interplay between technology and structure, establishing that technologies and structures interact to shape and reinforce one another. These studies, however, typically begin their analysis around the time that the technology is delivered and available to users. We argue that seeds of structuration are sown much earlier, as actors learn about and prepare for the arrival of technology. Using ethnographic data collected during a community hospital’s pre-implementation of an autonomous mobile robot, we propose that the sensemaking process triggered by a technology is anticipated introduction into an organization sets the stage for structuration. During the pre-implementation phase, individuals make sense of the technology by drawing on cognitive frames and structures relevant to the situation. Individuals take public actions during sensemaking, subsequently justifying those actions, with justifications leading to the actions’. Repetition, a cycle that lays the seeds for reinforcement, transformation and creation structures. ##