1) The document discusses software analytics and how it can be used to understand what happened in the past, what is currently happening, and what may happen in the future for software development projects. 2) It notes that different stakeholders like researchers, developers, testers, and managers have different needs for analytics and a single tool may not be enough to meet all needs. 3) The presentation outlines challenges with software analytics including data collection, data quality, privacy, understanding different user needs, and user experience. It stresses the importance of making data actionable and accessible for stakeholders.

1. Analytics for
Software Development
Thomas Zimmermann
Microsoft Research
ICSM 2010, Timisoara
http://thomas-zimmermann.com
Twitter: @tomzimmermann
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2. Researcher
(since 2008)
Assistant
Professor
(2007-2008) Microsoft
Research
University
PhD of Calgary
Saarland
University
Mining Empirical
University Software Software
of Passau Repositories Engineering
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3. Mining
Software
Repositories
Software
Analytics
Empirical
Software
Engineering
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4. Mining
Software
Repositories
Software
Development
Analytics
Empirical
Software
Engineering
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5. Analytics
“Use of analysis, data,
and systematic reasoning
to make decisions”
Financial services
Retail
Manufacturing
Health care
Energy
And more…
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6. Analytics
Past Present Future
What What is What will
Information happened? happening now? happen?
(Reporting) (Alerts) (Extrapolation)
What’s the
How and why What’s the next
best/worst that
Insight did it happen? best action?
can happen?
(Modeling) (Recommendation)
(Prediction)
From Davenport et al. “Analytics at Work”.
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7. Web analytics
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8. Mining
Software
Repositories
Software
Development
Analytics
Empirical
Software
Engineering
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9. Understanding data is hard!
The peak at
A is correct! So
Why is the
peak at B? what?
B
Researcher A
Developer
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10. Each project is different!
Has to learn about
Knows how to analysis to understand
analyze data and act on results
Researcher Makes assumptions Knows project
about project very well Developer
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11. Software development analyst
Knows enough
about data analysis
Knows enough
about project to
make the right
assumptions
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12. Stakeholders have different needs
Researcher Developer Tester Dev Lead Test Lead Manager
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13. Stakeholders have different needs
Researcher Developer Tester Dev Lead Test Lead Manager
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14. A single tool is not enough
Surveys
Qualitative data
Measurements
Benchmarking
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15. Make data actionable and accessible
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16. #1: Data collection
Data focused
Integration
Scenario focused
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17. #2: Data quality
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18. #3: Privacy
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19. #4: Understand user needs
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20. #4: Understand user needs
Developers: well studied
(ICSM: 26 papers)
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21. #4: Understand user needs
Managers: not many studies
(ICSM: 7 papers)
Developers: well studied
(ICSM: 26 papers)
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22. #4: Understand user needs
Managers: not many studies
(ICSM: 7 papers)
Communication: not many studies
(ICSM: 5 papers)
Developers: well studied
(ICSM: 26 papers)
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23. #5: User experience
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24. Make data actionable and accessible
Data collection
Data quality Privacy
Education
Understand
user needs
User experience
http://msrconf.org
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