Improving lava flow based software development

Software development in academia is usually done by master or Ph.D. students. These students stay on a project for a very limited period of time. As a result, the software development process can become an instance of the lava flow anti-pattern. In such a scenario, researchers have to rely on half-finished tools propagating their bugs through the toolchain until a step is reached where further extension becomes infeasible. Based on experience with Bauhaus, we will share our approach of facing the lava-flow phenomenon in toolchain-development and explain why it diminishes the risks of development stall.