Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Working Knowledge
Business Research for Business Leaders
  • Browse All Articles
  • Popular Articles
  • Cold Call Podcasts
  • About Us
  • Leadership
  • Marketing
  • Finance
  • Management
  • Entrepreneurship
  • All Topics...
  • Topics
    • COVID-19
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Finance
    • Gender
    • Globalization
    • Leadership
    • Management
    • Negotiation
    • Social Enterprise
    • Strategy
  • Sections
    • Book
    • Cold Call Podcast
    • HBS Case
    • In Practice
    • Lessons from the Classroom
    • Op-Ed
    • Research & Ideas
    • Research Event
    • Sharpening Your Skills
    • What Do You Think?
    • Working Paper Summaries
  • Browse All
    • COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      Exploring the Structure of Complex Software Designs: An Empirical Study of Open Source and Proprietary Code
      05 Jul 2006Working Paper Summaries

      Exploring the Structure of Complex Software Designs: An Empirical Study of Open Source and Proprietary Code

      by Alan D. MacCormack, John Rusnak and Carliss Y. Baldwin
      How does a product's design mirror the organization that develops it, and how does such a dynamic occur? To track the evolution of one design over time, this exploratory study compared software designs developed via different modes of organization-open source versus proprietary development. As it turned out, the architecture of the product developed by a highly distributed team of developers (Linux) was more modular than another product of similar size developed by a co-located team of developers (Mozilla). The study helped reveal potential performance tradeoffs from architectures with different characteristics. Key concepts include:
      • The value of design is a managerial choice.
      • There are important, measurable differences in modularity between different software systems of comparable size and function.
      • Systems may vary dramatically in terms of their robustness to change, and the costs and efficiency of future enhancements.
      LinkedIn
      Email

      Author Abstract

      This paper reports data from a study that seeks to characterize the differences in design structure between complex software products. We use Design Structure Matrices (DSMs) to map dependencies between the elements of a design and define metrics that allow us to compare the structures of different designs. We use these metrics to compare the architectures of two software products — the Linux operating system and the Mozilla web browser — that were developed via contrasting modes of organization: specifically, open source versus proprietary development. We then track the evolution of Mozilla, paying attention to a purposeful "re-design" effort undertaken with the intention of making the product more "modular." We find significant differences in structure between Linux and the first version of Mozilla, suggesting that Linux had a more modular architecture. Yet we also find that the re-design of Mozilla resulted in an architecture that was significantly more modular than that of its predecessor, and indeed, than that of Linux. Our results, while exploratory, are consistent with a view that different modes of organization are associated with designs that possess different structures. However, they also suggest that purposeful managerial actions can have a significant impact in adapting a design's structure. This latter result is important given recent moves to release proprietary software into the public domain. These moves are likely to fail unless the product possesses an "architecture for participation."

      Paper Information

      • Full Working Paper Text
      • Working Paper Publication Date: September 2004, revised March 2006
      • HBS Working Paper Number: 05-016
      • Faculty Unit(s): Technology and Operations Management; Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
        Trending
          • 21 Apr 2021
          • Research & Ideas

          The Pandemic Conversations That Leaders Need to Have Now

          • 20 Apr 2021
          • Book

          A Simple Question That Can Guide Companies to Epic Success

          • 20 Apr 2021
          • Cold Call Podcast

          What Went Wrong with the Boeing 737 Max?

          • 25 Feb 2019
          • Research & Ideas

          How Gender Stereotypes Kill a Woman’s Self-Confidence

          • 08 Mar 2021
          • In Practice

          COVID Killed the Traditional Workplace. What Should Companies Do Now?

      Carliss Y. Baldwin
      Carliss Y. Baldwin
      William L. White Professor of Business Administration, Emerita
      Contact
      Send an email
      → More Articles
      Alan D. MacCormack
      Alan D. MacCormack
      MBA Class of 1949 Adjunct Professor of Business Administration
      Contact
      Send an email
      → More Articles
      Find Related Articles
      • Technology
      • Video Game
      • Web Services

      Sign up for our weekly newsletter

      Interested in improving your business? Learn about fresh research and ideas from Harvard Business School faculty.
      ǁ
      Campus Map
      Harvard Business School Working Knowledge
      Baker Library | Bloomberg Center
      Soldiers Field
      Boston, MA 02163
      Email: Editor-in-Chief
      →Map & Directions
      →More Contact Information
      • Make a Gift
      • Site Map
      • Jobs
      • Harvard University
      • Trademarks
      • Policies
      • Digital Accessibility
      Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College