U Owns the Code That Changes and How Marginal Owners Resolve Issues Slower in Low-Quality Source Code
(2023) p.368-377- Abstract
[Context] Accurate time estimation is a critical aspect of predictable software engineering. Previous work shows that low source code quality increases the uncertainty in issue resolution times. [Objective] Our goal is to evaluate how developers' project experience and file ownership are related to issue resolution times. [Method] We mine 40 proprietary software repositories and conduct an observational study. Using CodeScene, we measure source code quality and active development time connected to Jira issues. [Results] Most source code changes are made by either a marginal or dominant code owner. Also, most changes to low-quality source code are made by developers with low levels of ownership. In low-quality source code, marginal... (More)
[Context] Accurate time estimation is a critical aspect of predictable software engineering. Previous work shows that low source code quality increases the uncertainty in issue resolution times. [Objective] Our goal is to evaluate how developers' project experience and file ownership are related to issue resolution times. [Method] We mine 40 proprietary software repositories and conduct an observational study. Using CodeScene, we measure source code quality and active development time connected to Jira issues. [Results] Most source code changes are made by either a marginal or dominant code owner. Also, most changes to low-quality source code are made by developers with low levels of ownership. In low-quality source code, marginal owners need 45% more time for small changes, and 93% more time for large changes. [Conclusions] Collective code ownership is a popular target, but industry practice results in many dominant and marginal owners. Marginal owners are particularly hampered when working with low-quality source code, which leads to productivity losses. In codebases plagued by technical debt, newly onboarded developers will require more time to complete tasks.
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- author
- Borg, Markus LU ; Tornhill, Adam and Mones, Enys
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023-06
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- code ownership, issue resolution time, mining software repositories, source code quality, technical debt
- host publication
- ACM International Conference Proceeding Series
- pages
- 10 pages
- publisher
- Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85162256848
- ISBN
- 9798400700446
- DOI
- 10.1145/3593434.3593480
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 0c6fda2f-b72e-47c6-af5e-b06a4c834cb0
- date added to LUP
- 2023-09-13 10:35:00
- date last changed
- 2023-11-22 23:48:08
@inproceedings{0c6fda2f-b72e-47c6-af5e-b06a4c834cb0,
abstract = {{<p>[Context] Accurate time estimation is a critical aspect of predictable software engineering. Previous work shows that low source code quality increases the uncertainty in issue resolution times. [Objective] Our goal is to evaluate how developers' project experience and file ownership are related to issue resolution times. [Method] We mine 40 proprietary software repositories and conduct an observational study. Using CodeScene, we measure source code quality and active development time connected to Jira issues. [Results] Most source code changes are made by either a marginal or dominant code owner. Also, most changes to low-quality source code are made by developers with low levels of ownership. In low-quality source code, marginal owners need 45% more time for small changes, and 93% more time for large changes. [Conclusions] Collective code ownership is a popular target, but industry practice results in many dominant and marginal owners. Marginal owners are particularly hampered when working with low-quality source code, which leads to productivity losses. In codebases plagued by technical debt, newly onboarded developers will require more time to complete tasks.</p>}},
author = {{Borg, Markus and Tornhill, Adam and Mones, Enys}},
booktitle = {{ACM International Conference Proceeding Series}},
isbn = {{9798400700446}},
keywords = {{code ownership; issue resolution time; mining software repositories; source code quality; technical debt}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{368--377}},
publisher = {{Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)}},
title = {{U Owns the Code That Changes and How Marginal Owners Resolve Issues Slower in Low-Quality Source Code}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3593434.3593480}},
doi = {{10.1145/3593434.3593480}},
year = {{2023}},
}