With continuing public debates on work style reform (the nation-wide efforts to reform the way people work), businesses explore for ways to reduce overtime work while raising productivity and quality. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of a process change in software development that advanced the timing of integration test to induce early-stage coordination, using a novel dataset from the project management system at an automobile parts manufacturer. In order to see the effectiveness of the new development process, we examine variations in overtime hours, product quality, and productivity before and after the process change. We find that the change: (1) reduced overtime hours by leveling working hours over the course of the project; (2) significantly lowered the defect rate discovered after shipment; but (3) did not cause any significant changes in productivity due to a significant increase in specification changes and communication among the manufacturer and the suppliers. Interestingly, the defect rates--both at the time of integration test and after shipment--became significantly less dependent on engineers’ experience (years of service) after the process change. We interpret our findings as showing that the early-stage coordination improved the quality of work as well as the quality of life for workers, and at the same time reduced the excessive dependence on individual knowledge and experience by exploiting the team’s problem solving capability through information sharing.
