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The sky is not the limit: multitasking across GitHub projects

Authors:

Bogdan Vasilescu,

Casey Casalnuovo,

Daniela Damian,

Premkumar Devanbu,

Vladimir FilkovAuthors Info & Claims

ICSE '16: Proceedings of the 38th International Conference on Software Engineering

Pages 994 - 1005

https://doi.org/10.1145/2884781.2884875

Published: 14 May 2016 Publication History

Abstract

Software development has always inherently required multitasking: developers switch between coding, reviewing, testing, designing, and meeting with colleagues. The advent of software ecosystems like GitHub has enabled something new: the ability to easily switch between projects. Developers also have social incentives to contribute to many projects; prolific contributors gain social recognition and (eventually) economic rewards. Multitasking, however, comes at a cognitive cost: frequent context-switches can lead to distraction, sub-standard work, and even greater stress. In this paper, we gather ecosystem-level data on a group of programmers working on a large collection of projects. We develop models and methods for measuring the rate and breadth of a developers' context-switching behavior, and we study how context-switching affects their productivity. We also survey developers to understand the reasons for and perceptions of multitasking. We find that the most common reason for multitasking is interrelationships and dependencies between projects. Notably, we find that the rate of switching and breadth (number of projects) of a developer's work matter. Developers who work on many projects have higher productivity if they focus on few projects per day. Developers that switch projects too much during the course of a day have lower productivity as they work on more projects overall. Despite these findings, developers perceptions of the benefits of multitasking are varied.

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The sky is not the limit: multitasking across GitHub projects

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cover image ACM Conferences

ICSE '16: Proceedings of the 38th International Conference on Software Engineering

May 2016

1235 pages

ISBN:9781450339001

DOI:10.1145/2884781

General Chair:
Laura Dillon
Michigan State University
,
Program Chairs:
Willem Visser
Stellenbosch University, South Africa
,
Laurie Williams
North Carolina State University

Copyright © 2016 ACM.

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Published: 14 May 2016

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ICSE '16: 38th International Conference on Software Engineering

May 14 - 22, 2016

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Campanella SLanza M(2024)Hidden in the Code: Visualizing True Developer Identities2024 IEEE Working Conference on Software Visualization (VISSOFT)10.1109/VISSOFT64034.2024.00013(24-35)Online publication date: 6-Oct-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/VISSOFT64034.2024.00013
Trigo BFerreira AAlmeida P(2024)Verbal and Nonverbal Culture-Fair ChallengesPsychological Test Adaptation and Development10.1027/2698-1866/a0000715:1(106-116)Online publication date: 1-Mar-2024
https://doi.org/10.1027/2698-1866/a000071
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