Nature is always good looking at, because it provides with ideas that work. And free software couldn't be an exception. But, what is similar to its development form? Some have argued it is a bazaar; we have found an analogy from social insects like ants and termites. Yes, these insects build huge things by means of stigmergy - a concept that states that communication does not happen directly among entities but through other means.
You can read more about it -including the extended abstract of our research- in our Research blog of our Libre Software Engineering Lab.