Software Engineers' Information Seeking Behavior in Change Impact Analysis - An Interview Study
Borg, Markus ; Alegroth, Emil and Runeson, Per LU
(2017)
25th IEEE International Conference on Program Comprehension, ICPC 2017
p.12-22
- Abstract
Software engineers working in large projects must navigate complex information landscapes. Change Impact Analysis (CIA) is a task that relies on engineers' successful information seeking in databases storing, e.g., source code, requirements, design descriptions, and test case specifications. Several previous approaches to support information seeking are task-specific, thus understanding engineers' seeking behavior in specific tasks is fundamental. We present an industrial case study on how engineers seek information in CIA, with a particular focus on traceability and development artifacts that are not source code. We show that engineers have different information seeking behavior, and that some do not consider traceability particularly... (More)
Software engineers working in large projects must navigate complex information landscapes. Change Impact Analysis (CIA) is a task that relies on engineers' successful information seeking in databases storing, e.g., source code, requirements, design descriptions, and test case specifications. Several previous approaches to support information seeking are task-specific, thus understanding engineers' seeking behavior in specific tasks is fundamental. We present an industrial case study on how engineers seek information in CIA, with a particular focus on traceability and development artifacts that are not source code. We show that engineers have different information seeking behavior, and that some do not consider traceability particularly useful when conducting CIA. Furthermore, we observe a tendency for engineers to prefer less rigid types of support rather than formal approaches, i.e., engineers value support that allows flexibility in how to practically conduct CIA. Finally, due to diverse information seeking behavior, we argue that future CIA support should embrace individual preferences to identify change impact by empowering several seeking alternatives, including searching, browsing, and tracing.
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- author
- Borg, Markus
; Alegroth, Emil
and Runeson, Per
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2017-06-28
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- case study, change impact analysis, information seeking, safety-critical systems, traceability
- host publication
- Proceedings - 2017 IEEE 25th International Conference on Program Comprehension, ICPC 2017
- article number
- 7961500
- pages
- 11 pages
- publisher
- IEEE Computer Society
- conference name
- 25th IEEE International Conference on Program Comprehension, ICPC 2017
- conference location
- Buenos Aires, Argentina
- conference dates
- 2017-05-22 - 2017-05-23
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85025149120
- wos:000414246900002
- ISBN
- 9781538605356
- DOI
- 10.1109/ICPC.2017.20
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 94b468d3-3b32-4ca6-944b-efae540975e6
- date added to LUP
- 2017-07-31 12:32:21
- date last changed
- 2025-01-07 18:03:59
@inproceedings{94b468d3-3b32-4ca6-944b-efae540975e6,
abstract = {{<p>Software engineers working in large projects must navigate complex information landscapes. Change Impact Analysis (CIA) is a task that relies on engineers' successful information seeking in databases storing, e.g., source code, requirements, design descriptions, and test case specifications. Several previous approaches to support information seeking are task-specific, thus understanding engineers' seeking behavior in specific tasks is fundamental. We present an industrial case study on how engineers seek information in CIA, with a particular focus on traceability and development artifacts that are not source code. We show that engineers have different information seeking behavior, and that some do not consider traceability particularly useful when conducting CIA. Furthermore, we observe a tendency for engineers to prefer less rigid types of support rather than formal approaches, i.e., engineers value support that allows flexibility in how to practically conduct CIA. Finally, due to diverse information seeking behavior, we argue that future CIA support should embrace individual preferences to identify change impact by empowering several seeking alternatives, including searching, browsing, and tracing.</p>}},
author = {{Borg, Markus and Alegroth, Emil and Runeson, Per}},
booktitle = {{Proceedings - 2017 IEEE 25th International Conference on Program Comprehension, ICPC 2017}},
isbn = {{9781538605356}},
keywords = {{case study; change impact analysis; information seeking; safety-critical systems; traceability}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{06}},
pages = {{12--22}},
publisher = {{IEEE Computer Society}},
title = {{Software Engineers' Information Seeking Behavior in Change Impact Analysis - An Interview Study}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ICPC.2017.20}},
doi = {{10.1109/ICPC.2017.20}},
year = {{2017}},
}