Understanding and Improving Time Usage in Software Development
Published 1 January 1995
Dewayne E. Perry, Nancy A. Staudenmayer, Lawrence G. Votta
Citations44
Generate an AI Snapshot to get a quick, structured summary of this paper.
Study Snapshot
ObjectiveStudy objective
MethodsResearch methodology
PopulationPopulation studied
Sample sizeSample sizes
OutcomesStudy outcomes here
ResultsStudy results comes here
LimitationsResearch study limitations comes here
A concise AI-generated summary of the paper will appear here once you click Generate AI Snapshot.
TL;DR
In attempting to answer the question "Where does time go in software development?", it is found that two techniques in particular, time diaries and direct observation, are feasible and yield useful information about time utilization.
Abstract
Time and motion studies are a proven means toward understanding and improving any engineering enterprise. We believe that the engineering of software processes is no different in this respect; however, the fact that software development yields an intellectual --- as opposed to physical --- product calls for new and creative measurement techniques. In attempting to answer the question "Where does time go in software development?" we have been experimenting with several forms of data collection. We have found that two techniques in particular, time diaries and direct observation, are feasible and yield useful information about time utilization. The major source of discrepancy between them is granularity: most software developers can not retrospectively report with a high degree of accuracy the large number of interruptions and unplanned transitory events that typically characterize their working day. Drawing upon experimental techniques from the behavioral sciences, we used three alterna...
Keywords
Computer Science
The Discovery of Grounded Theory
23,416 Citations2017Barney G. Glaser, Anselm L. Strauss
Psychological ReviewThe magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information.
17,276 Citations1994George Miller
About some experiments that tested how accurately people can assign numbers to the magnitudes of various aspects of a stimulus, and since the results are analyzed in terms of the concepts of information theory, I shall have to preface my discussion with a few remarks about this theory.
CERN Document Server (European Organization for Nuclear Research)Managing the Software Process
1,975 Citations1989Watts S. Humphrey
This work describes the development of a Software Maturity Framework and the Principles of Software Process Change, and describes the management of this framework.
Choice Reviews OnlineThe psychology of computer programming
969 Citations1999
This landmark 1971 classic is reprinted with new commentary and a Preface from the author, Gerald M. Weinberg, reunites with some of his most enduring, straight-from-the-heart observations on the human side of software engineering.
IEEE Transactions on Software EngineeringUnderstanding and controlling software costs
675 Citations1988Barry Boehm, Phillip N. Papaccio
It is pointed out that a good framework of techniques exists for controlling software budgets, schedules, and work completed, but that a great deal of further progress is needed to provide an overall set of planning and control techniques covering software product qualities and end-user system objectives.
ScienceWhat Happened at Hawthorne?
608 Citations1974H. McIlvaine Parsons
The study of response-consequence contingencies might well be extended to the examination of motivation in industrial workers, and operant conditioning seems to account for progressive increases in response rate—the Hawthorne phenomenon.
Human OrganizationInformant Accuracy in Social Network Data
434 Citations1976Peter D. Killworth, H. Russell Bernard
This paper examines the problem of informant accuracy in the production of social network data, through the use of a self-monitoring network, which allows a comparison between cognitive network data and informants' interactive behavior.
IEEE SoftwarePeople, organizations, and process improvement
398 Citations1994Dewayne E. Perry, Nancy A. Staudenmayer +1 more
The authors report on two experiments to discover how developers spend their time and describe how noncoding activities can use up development time and how even a reluctance to use e-mail can influence the development process.
Human-Computer InteractionDesigning the Design Process: Exploiting Opportunistic Thoughts
393 Citations1990Raymonde Guindon
It is shown that top-down decomposition is problematic in the early stages of design and an opportunistic decompositions is better suited to handle the ill-structuredness of design problems.
Communications of the ACMExploratory experimental studies comparing online and offline programming performance
331 Citations1968Harold Sackman, Warren J. Erikson +1 more
These are the first known studies measuring the performance of programers under controlled conditions for standard tasks, and statistically significant results indicated substantially faster debugging under online conditions in both studies.
Psychology Press eBooksPatterns of Contact and Communication in Scientific Research Collaborations
270 Citations2014Robert E. Kraut, Carmen Egido +1 more
Psychology Press eBooksTime Matters in Groups
255 Citations2014Joseph E. McGrath
This chapter deals with some temporal features of group work, and with how those temporal matters are affected when technological tools are added, and an array of potential technological tools that can mediate and modify cooperative work in groups are considered.
Communications of the ACMStudying programmer behavior experimentally
209 Citations1980Ruven Brooks
Three major areas of methodological concern, the selection of subjects, materials, and measures, are reviewed and the first two of these areas continue to present major difficulties for this type of research.
International Journal of Man-Machine StudiesKnowledge exploited by experts during software system design
200 Citations1990Raymonde Guindon
A verbal protocol study describes how designers heavily rely on problem domain scenario simulations throughout solution development and describes how they exploit powerful heuristics and personalized evaluation criteria to constrain the design process and select a satisfactory solution.
PubMedHow Bell Labs creates star performers.
161 Citations1993Robert E. Kelley, Janice Caplan
The authors' research has revealed that the real difference between stars and average workers is not IQ but the ways top performers do their jobs, which has led to a training program based on the strategies of star performers.
Psychology Press eBooksExperiences in an Exploratory Distributed Organization
100 Citations2014Mark J. Abel
A study in software process data capture and analysis
77 Citations2002Alexander L. Wolf, David S. Rosenblum
A model of the software process that is based on the notion of events characterizing identifiable, instantaneous milestones in a process was developed, along with Capture and analysis techniques suited to that model, and initial results demonstrate the viability of this approach to capture and analysis.
Selection and evaluation of computer personnel- the research history of SIG/CPR
76 Citations1968David B. Mayer, Ashford W. Stalnaker
Psychological research and a proliferation of psychological instruments which attempt to identify the aptitudes which lead to success in selecting and training the human side of computation.
IEEE Transactions on Software EngineeringPrototyping a process monitoring experiment
53 Citations1994Mark G. Bradac, Dewayne E. Perry +1 more
AT&T Technical JournalTotal Quality Management for a Large Software Project
15 Citations1992Joseph S. Colson, Edward M. Prell
This paper summarizes the approach, current status, and some early results of the efforts to conceptualize, design, and achieve a quality management system for the international and U. S. 5ESS switch projects.
Perceptual and Motor SkillsOvert vs Covert Problem Solving: 3. Reversing the Direction of a “Swimming Fish”
1 Citations1987Loh Seng Tsai