Acm productivity-webinar-2016-slides
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This document discusses research into measuring and improving software development productivity on a minute-by-minute basis. It explores developers' perspectives on productivity, observes their activities and work flows, and suggests ways forward at the individual, team, and organizational levels. Key findings include that development work is highly fragmented, habitual productivity patterns exist, and mitigating context switches can improve focus. The research aims to develop more flexible and adaptable measurement and retrospective tools to help developers and organizations enhance productivity.
![9Perspective
When do developers perceive themselves to be
productive and unproductive?
Thomas Fritz
U. Zürich
André Meyer
U. Zürich
Tom Zimmermann
Microsoft
Research
Joint work [FSE 2014] with:](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/acm-productivity-webinar-2016-slides-160207012436/85/Acm-productivity-webinar-2016-slides-9-320.jpg)
![16Observation
Survey left us with many questions.
What are tasks? What are context switches?
What kind of email is processed? …
Thomas Fritz
U. Zürich
André Meyer
U. Zürich
Tom Zimmermann
Microsoft
Research
Joint work [FSE 2014] with:](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/acm-productivity-webinar-2016-slides-160207012436/85/Acm-productivity-webinar-2016-slides-16-320.jpg)
![24Observation
Theme 3: Work Flow
The longer the switch the more expensive…
“[To] stop and work on a different task is a more
costly context switch that writing a quick email”
The more focused on a task the more expensive…
“Depends on where I was, if it was a critical section, it is
really hard to get back to focus on that task, even if it was for
like 30 seconds”](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/acm-productivity-webinar-2016-slides-160207012436/85/Acm-productivity-webinar-2016-slides-24-320.jpg)
![41
Contact
You can reach me via: murphy@cs.ubc.ca, gail.murphy@tasktop.com, @gail_murphy
For more information on Tasktop products, see www.tasktop.com
[FSE 2014] André N. Meyer, Thomas Fritz, Gail C. Murphy and Thomas Zimmermann. Software
Developers’ Perceptions of Productivity. In Proc. of 22nd ACM SIGSOFT International
Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering, ACM, 2014. Available at:
http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=228971
References
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the many participants in our studies. This work was funded in part by NSERC, in part
by ABB and has been motivated through conversations with many colleagues at Tasktop.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/acm-productivity-webinar-2016-slides-160207012436/85/Acm-productivity-webinar-2016-slides-41-320.jpg)
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Acm productivity-webinar-2016-slides
- 1. Gail C. Murphy Univ. of British Columbia Tasktop Technologies @gail_murphy Improving Software DevelopmentProductivity Minute-by-Minute
- 2. 2 image “software is eating the world” Marc Andreesen
- 5. workers as cogs individual developer’s perspective on productivity Photo courtesy of #WOCinTech
- 9. 9Perspective When do developers perceive themselves to be productive and unproductive? Thomas Fritz U. Zürich André Meyer U. Zürich Tom Zimmermann Microsoft Research Joint work [FSE 2014] with:
- 10. 10Perspective Survey 28 questions 379 responses 93% developers 9.2 avg years of experience
- 11. 11 I have a productive day when I… Perspective 53% complete tasks or goals 50% have no/few interruptions or distractions 22% have no meetings 20% have clear goals
- 12. 12 Productive and Unproductive Activities Perspective 0 20 40 60 80 Coding Meetings Planning Doc 0 15 30 45 60 Meetings Email Unplanned Coding Productive Unproductive
- 13. # Work Items Time on Work Items Time on Code Reviews Time Writing Code # Code Reviews # Code Elements Changed # Lines of Code Changed # Emails Written Measuring ProductivityPerspective
- 14. 14Perspective Take-away Developers want to measure productivity; each developer wants to measure differently. 27% Activities 18% Achievements 17% Value 16% Time per task ratio
- 15. Observation
- 16. 16Observation Survey left us with many questions. What are tasks? What are context switches? What kind of email is processed? … Thomas Fritz U. Zürich André Meyer U. Zürich Tom Zimmermann Microsoft Research Joint work [FSE 2014] with:
- 17. 17Observation
- 18. 18Observation Theme 1: Tasks 4 (±2.3) tasks per 4 hours 13.3 (±8.5) task switches per hour 6.2 (±3.3) min spent each time on task tasks ≠ work items
- 19. 19Observation Theme 2: Activities 47 (± 19.8) activities per hour 1.6 (± .8) min spent on each activity 14.8 (± 3.9) programs over 4 hours
- 20. 20Observation Activities (Development) Code 33% Debug 4% VC 2% Test App 12% Review 2% DevOther 4%
- 21. 21Observation Activities (Other) Email 5% Planning 8% Doc 3% Meet Planned 5% Meet Informal 13% Browsing 4%
- 22. 22Observation Theme 3: Work Flow Context switches lower productivity What is a context switch?
- 23. 23Observation Theme 3: Work Flow A context switch is when: “When I have to stop thinking about one thing and start thinking about something else”
- 24. 24Observation Theme 3: Work Flow The longer the switch the more expensive… “[To] stop and work on a different task is a more costly context switch that writing a quick email” The more focused on a task the more expensive… “Depends on where I was, if it was a critical section, it is really hard to get back to focus on that task, even if it was for like 30 seconds”
- 25. 25Observation Take-away Mitigate context switches (e.g., close email, schedule a meeting with yourself, work elsewhere) Need for automatic recognition of context switches
- 26. Activity
- 27. 27Activity But what do developers really do all day… and when do they think they are productive? Thomas Fritz U. Zürich André Meyer U. Zürich Tom Zimmermann Microsoft Research Joint work with: Laura Barton UBC
- 28. 28Activity Monitoring Study ♀ ♂ ♂ ♂ ♂ ♂ ♂ ♂ ♂ ♂ ♂ ♂♂ ♂ ♂ ♂ ♂♂ ♂♂ ♂
- 29. 29Activity Activities Code 21% Debug .4% VC .7% Test App Review 1% DevOther
- 30. 30Activity Activities (Other) Email 14% Planning 5% Doc 7% Meet Planned 6% Meet Informal 3% Browsing 11%
- 32. 32Activity Some early take-aways Development work is highly fragmented (.3 to 2 min per activity) Developers perceived productivity follows habitual patterns
- 33. Activity
- 35. 35Ways Forward Individual Set goals Organize workday to minimize interruptions Manage distractions Research challenges: Flexible, adaptable retrospection (and measurement) tools
- 36. 36Ways Forward Team Use toolchains that support context and flow (e.g., brings issues into dev env’t) Use effective meeting practices Research challenges: Build tools with interfaces that support flow
- 37. 37Ways Forward Organization Streamline communications • integrate PPM, Agile planning, requirements management, test management and service desk • synchronize artifacts across the lifecycle
- 38. 38Ways Forward Organization Analyze workflow • collect data from lifecycle tools • gather metrics and uncover trends across organization e.g., which teams are producing most severe defects? are teams getting project requirements on time?
- 39. Activity
- 40. 40Summary Improving Software Development Productivity Minute-by-Minute Perspective Individual measurement and retrospection Ways Forward Individual, team, organization Activity Habitual productivity patterns Observation Mitigate context switches Perspective Activity Ways Observation @gail_murphy
- 41. 41 Contact You can reach me via: [email protected], [email protected], @gail_murphy For more information on Tasktop products, see www.tasktop.com [FSE 2014] André N. Meyer, Thomas Fritz, Gail C. Murphy and Thomas Zimmermann. Software Developers’ Perceptions of Productivity. In Proc. of 22nd ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering, ACM, 2014. Available at: http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=228971 References Acknowledgements Thanks to the many participants in our studies. This work was funded in part by NSERC, in part by ABB and has been motivated through conversations with many colleagues at Tasktop.