This research in progress paper compares the characteristics of high and low performance distributed student teams doing software development in Computer Science. The distributed student teams were involved in a software development project that was part of a Computer Science course at two universities located in different countries.We developed a set of categories to examine the email communication of distributed student teams. This paper tracks the progression and changes in the categories coded for each team's communication throughout the project's timeline, particularly during key decision periods in the software development cycle.

This research in progress paper compares the characteristics of high and low performance distributed student teams doing software development in Computer Science. The distributed student teams were involved in a software development project that was part of a Computer Science course at two universities located in different countries.We developed a set of categories to examine the email communication of distributed student teams. This paper tracks the progression and changes in the categories coded for each team's communication throughout the project's timeline, particularly during key decision periods in the software development cycle. Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee.

Abstract.Technology has developed such that it allows for effective remote collaboration on system development in a team-based environment. Two avionics examples of systems developed in such a way are the Airbus 380, and the Eurofighter, with development split between several European countries. Additionally, outsourcing has become endemic in the industry, providing advancement and much needed revenue for developing countries, but complicating development and integration issues. To illustrate the issues involved in remote collaboration, this paper investigates a study of the interactions of high and low performing distributed student teams on a development project. Results indicate that not only is communication crucial to a team's success but the process and timing of specific actions can have an impact on a team's performance. The paper also examines the system development lifecycle and how collaboration changes during the different phases of the project, and lessons to be applied to systems engineering.

International collaboration gives students the opportunity to use different technologies for collaboration across time and distance as well as problem-solving experience with different cultures in a team-based environment. Results indicate that not only is communication crucial to a team's success but the process and timing of specific actions can have an impact on a team's software development performance.

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