Abstract
There are three mechanisms for coordinating work in an organization: mutual adjustment, direct supervision and standardization (of processes, output skills and norms). They are all substitutions for each other and they are all important for software development. Different types of organizations usually favor one mechanism over the others. The focus of this PhD-study is to explore and understand the role of coordinating mechanisms in software development teams.There are two overall research questions. They are: 1) What is the role of the coordinating mechanisms in plan-driven and change-driven development in small- and medium-sized software companies? 2) How does the use of the coordinating mechanisms change when a small- or medium-sized software company changes from plan-driven to change-driven development?To seek answers to these questions, I have planned a literature study and several case-studies