The dynamics of leadership and success in software development teams

Lorenzo Betti, Luca Gallo, Johannes Wachs and Federico Battiston ()
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Lorenzo Betti: Central European University
Luca Gallo: Central European University
Johannes Wachs: Corvinus University of Budapest
Federico Battiston: Central European University

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract From science to industry, teamwork plays a crucial role in knowledge production and innovation. Most studies consider teams as static groups of individuals, thereby failing to capture how the micro-dynamics of collaborative processes and organizational changes determine team success. Here, we leverage fine-grained temporal data on software development teams from three software ecosystems – Rust, JavaScript, and Python – to gain insights into the dynamics of online collaborative projects. Our analysis reveals an uneven workload distribution in teams, with stronger heterogeneity correlated with higher success, and the early emergence of a lead developer carrying out the majority of work. Moreover, we find that a sizeable fraction of projects experience a change of lead developer, with such a transition being more likely in projects led by inexperienced users. Finally, we show that leadership change is associated with faster success growth. Our work contributes to a deeper understanding of the link between team evolution and success in collaborative processes.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59031-7

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