Abstract
Communication channels refer to the mechanisms adopted to ensure the flow of information within an organization. Developers may use different communication channels (such as e-mail, chat, or simply face-to-face) to discuss issues related to new features, bugs, or documentation. With a wide spectrum of different channels to choose from, project maintainers need to select the best suited channels for the development activities. We survey 129 developers to reflect on their experiences of using different communication channels for development activities (e.g., user support or daily communication). We find that different development activities require distinct combinations of channels. For example, user support appears to be more efficient with a fewer number of channels, reducing confusion on how to contact developers. We observe that a mix of socially-enabled and non-digital channels seems to fit most of development activities.