Productivity of a software development organization can be enhanced by improving the software process, using better tools/technology, and enhancing the productivity of programmers. This work focuses on improving programmer productivity by studying the process used by a programmer for executing an assigned task, which we call the task process. We propose a general framework for studying the impact of task processes on programmer productivity and also the impact of transferring task processes of high-productivity programmers to average-productivity peers. We applied the framework to a few live projects in Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Limited, a CMMI Level 5 company. In each project, we identified two groups of programmers: high-productivity and average-productivity programmers. We requested each programmer to video capture their computer screen while executing his/her assigned tasks. We then analyzed these task videos to extract the task processes and then used them to identify the differences between the task processes used by the two groups. Some key differences were found between the task processes, which could account for the difference in productivities of the two groups. Similarities between the task processes were also analyzed quantitatively by modeling each task process as a Markov chain. We found that programmers from the same group used similar task processes, but the task processes of the two groups differed considerably. The task processes of high-productivity programmers were transferred to the average-productivity programmers by training them on the key steps missing in their process but commonly present in the work of their high-productivity peers. A substantial productivity gain was found in the average-productivity programmers as a result of this transfer. The study shows that task processes of programmers impact their productivity, and it is possible to improve the productivity of average-productivity programmers by transferring task processes from high-productivity programmers to them.

Software productivity is influenced by how efficiently programmers execute tasks assigned to them. For executing a task, programmers execute several steps. How the execution of these steps is organized by a programmer is referred to as task process. While overall software process has been well studied, the impact of task processes has not been studied much. In this work, we study the impact of task processes on the productivity of programmers. We first model a task process as a Markov chain with each state representing a step, and then study the difference in task processes of high and low productivity programmers using the Euclidean distance between Markov chains. We applied this method in a field study conducted at Robert Bosch Engineering & Business Solutions Limited, a CMMi Level 5 software company. We analyzed the task processes of eighteen programmers from three live model-based unit-testing projects, and modeled them as Markov chains. We compared the task processes used by a programmer for executing similar tasks, and then compared the task processes of programmers within the same group (high/low productivity) and across groups. The results of the study indicate: a) each programmer uses similar task processes for executing similar tasks, though the task processes of a high productivity programmer are more similar than the task processes of a low productivity programmer, b) task processes of high productivity programmers are similar to each other, and c) task processes of a low productivity programmer differ widely from high productivity programmers.

Model based software development promises to increase productivity by generating executable code automatically from design/models thereby eliminating the manual coding phase. Although new software development projects have yielded high productivity using model based development, its effect on productivity of maintenance projects involving enhancement tasks are not well researched. In this paper we study the impact of model based development on productivity and quality of maintenance tasks. In our study, we observed 173 enhancement tasks done using model based software development, and 156 enhancement tasks using traditional software development, in six live projects over one year at Robert Bosch Engineering & Business Solutions Ltd., a CMMi level 5 software company. For each of these tasks, we collected data on size, effort taken to complete the task, and rework effort to fix any bugs. We found that the productivity of enhancement tasks executed using model based software development was higher by over 10% as compared to traditional software development. No statistically significant difference was found between the model based and traditional software development for the rework effort suggesting that there is no adverse effect on quality.