long vs. short branches in version control

I wonder whether anyone knows some research done with the question "What is good/bad in long/short branches in version control?"

I'm specifically interested in academic research performed in this field. My questions are:

• What problems (or conflicts) long branches may produce and how to deal with them
• How to split a big task onto smaller branches/sub-tasks
• How to coordinate the changes in mult开发者_如何学Goiple short branches, related to the same code

Thanks in advance for links and suggestions!

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Take a look to the following article explaining the branch-per-task branching pattern. Hope it helps.