Due to my tendonitis, I'll merely quote the abstract of my PhD proposal, which is the topic of the talk I propose.

The full proposal is available at http://martin-krafft.net/phd/proposal.pdf and has been accepted.

This research paper/project details the technical challenges the
Debian project faces as it continues its tremendous growth in size and
popularity. It describes a research endeavour designed to increase the use of version control within the project for improved coordination of globally distributed teams of volunteers working on the software packages that make up the system. The research primarily focuses on the integration and consolidation of the involved processes. With tools already available for some parts of these processes as well as the coordination of teams, the goal is not to reinvent the wheel, but rather to ``reuse and improve'' these tools, to better integrate them, and to make them more accessible by providing abstraction wrappers with interfaces intuitive to Debian developers. It is further the intent for these tools to be optional and fully compatible to existing practices, thus not forcing developers to adapt. The research starts with process analysis and studies of the work habits on the side of the developers, and targets the final output of tools, which implement improved workflow in Debian package management through meaningful integration of
existing (and proven) methods.