Attacking Information Overload in Software Development

1. #GHC13 Attacking Information Overload in Software Development Gail C. MurphyUniversity of British ColumbiaTasktop Technologies Incorporated October 4, 2013 2013

3. information iseverywhere and is needed

5. information explosion insoftware development… eclipse helios (3.6)100,000+ Bugzilla accountshundreds of thousands of bugs33 million lines of code

6. developers deal with massive amounts of ever-changing data changes to workspace every 54 seconds (IBM group)

7. information explosion information overload indecision repetition

8. from anywhere, anytime, anyoneto the right information at the right time,in the right place, in the right way to the right person G. Fischer, Int’l Workshop Series on RFID, 2004

9. group memory:Hipikat episodic memory:Mylyn

10. group memory: Hipikat across time and space, developers leave a digital trail of information about a project form an implicit group memory from the digital trail enable a developer to query the group memory for pertinent information joint work with DavorCubranic

11. Person writes writes works on posts implements Message Change/ Bug reply to similar to about Document similar to documents File revision >356,000 >56,000 >69,000

12. Person writes writes works on posts implements Message Change/ Bug reply to similar to about Document similar to documents metadata File revision >356,000 >56,000 >69,000

13. Person writes writes works on posts implements Message Change/ Bug reply to similar to about Document similar to documents heuristic File revision >356,000 >56,000 >69,000

14. Person writes writes works on posts implements Message Change/ Bug reply to similar to about Document similar to documents information retrieval File revision >356,000 >56,000 >69,000

15. Person writes writes works on posts implements Message Change/ Bug reply to similar to about Document similar to documents recommending File revision >356,000 >56,000 >69,000

17. does it work? longitudinal case study of real change tasks difficult task easy task 75% 75% 50% 75% of newcomers handled special cases correctly compared to only 25% of experts 50% of newcomers met basic req. compared to 75% of experts 25%

18. right information right time right place right way right person

19. episodic memory: Mylyn as a developer works, build a task context that includes a degree-of-interest (DOI) for each item of information interacted with focus the display of information using a task’s context support collaboration through sharing of task contexts joint work with Mik Kersten

21. interest

23. task (bug) #1 task (bug) #2

25. task (bug) #1 task (bug) #2

27. does it work? field study of developer productivity percentage change in edit ratio

28. does it work? downloaded 2 million times per monthused by hundreds of thousands daily

29. right information right time right place right way right person

30. information explosion information overload indecision recommenders can help! repetition

31. refers to implements Change/ Bug Wiki page similar to similar to knowledgework softwaredevelopment File revision Email similar to task (bug) #1 task

33. meghanallenjohn anvikelisabaniassadwesleycoelhodavorcubranicbrian de alwisrob elvesthomas fritzjanhannemannlyndonhiewreidholmesmikkerstenshawnmintoe murphy-hilljingwenoumartin robillardsarah rastkardavid shepherdducky sherwoodp. viriyakattiyapornannieyingrobert walkerand others!

34. information overload is sinking developers recommenders can help makedevelopers more productive @gail_murphywww.cs.ubc.ca/~murphy

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36. Contact Information • Gail Murphymurphy@cs.ubc.ca