Abstract

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic that broke out in 2020, companies switched to working from home on a large scale. Now, in 2025, many employees are working from home entirely or are only in the office irregularly. This has created a new working environment for many software professionals that resembles both the distributed software development (DSD) and open source software development (OSS) models. While working from home or a hybrid work environment is relatively new for many organizations (about 5 years), the challenges in DSD and OSS development have already been widely researched. Our research question focuses on best practices derived from OSS and DSD that solve the current challenges of working from home. We conducted a qualitative survey and interviewed fifteen individuals who have experience with DSD or OSS development. In this paper, we present fourteen proposed best practices for remote communication, collaboration, management, and tooling. Using the context–problem–solution pattern, we go beyond presenting high-level practices and suggest actionable details. The results of the study provide insights into this topic with high industry relevance. At the same time, the study contributes to existing academic research on working from home and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords

Qualitative survey; Distributed software development; DSD; COVID-19; Coronavirus; Corona crisis; Corona lockdown; Qualitative survey research; Open source; Work from home; Remote work; Best practices

Reference

Müller, K., Harutyunyan, N., Riehle, D. & Koch, C. (2026). Best Practices for Work From Home: A Qualitative Survey in Open Source and Distributed Software Development. In Information and Software Technology (INFSOF), vol. 190 (February 2026), 107952.

Download

Available on the publisher’s website (or as a local copy).