Assis$ngEngineersinSwitchingAr$facts

WalidMaalejandAlexanderSahm

TechnischeUniversitätMünchen,Germany

byusingTaskSeman$csandInterac$onHistory

RSSE’10,CapeTown,SouthAfrica,Mai2010

©W.Maalej,Mai2010

Execu$veSummary

Assis$ngEngineersinSwitchingAr$facts 2

Weproposeacontext‐awareswitchingapproachbasedontaskseman6csandinterac6onhistory

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Currentdesktopenvironmentslackthesupportforswitchingbetweenar6factsduringengineers’work

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Outline

PreliminaryEvalua$onandOutlook

OurContext‐AwareApproach

TheSystem:Switch!

TheSwitchingProblem

2

1

3

4

Assis$ngEngineersinSwitchingAr$facts

©W.Maalej,Mai2010

ExampleofToolsandAr$factsUsedinaBugFixingScenario(iPhoneApp)

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©W.Maalej,Mai2010

PostponedTasksLeadtoEvenMoreWindows

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©W.Maalej,Mai2010

©W.Maalej,Mai2010

CurrentDesktopEnvironmentsHaveFourShortcomings

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TheSwitchingProblem

Windowsofdifferenttasksaremixed

TaskirrelevantwindowscreateascreencluAer

Thecontextofprevioussessionsislost

Locatethear6factswhenresumingtasks

Switchingbetweenwindowsinsteadofar$facts

Mul6‐layerswitching:firstthewindowsthenthear6fact

Differentworkflowsforopenandclosedar$facts

Checkifthear6factisopen,ifnot:findit,openit

Moredetails:W.Maalej,Task‐FirstorContext‐First?ToolIntegra6onRevisited.InIEEE/ACMASE2009

©W.Maalej,Mai2010 9

Outline

PreliminaryEvalua$onandOutlook

OurContext‐AwareApproach

TheSystem:Switch!

TheSwitchingProblem

2

1

3

4

Assis$ngEngineersinSwitchingAr$facts

©W.Maalej,Mai2010

TheGoalistoAssistEngineersSwitchingBetweenAr$facts

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Detectanduseengineer’scontext

Thesystemrecommendsar6factsneedednext

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Engineerscaneasilyselectthear6factfromthesetof

recommenda6ons

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Thear6factisshownnomaAerwhetheritisopenofclosed

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©W.Maalej,Mai2010

WhatisEngineer’sContext?

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TaskSeman6cs(UniversalDimension)

Interac6onHistory(PersonalDimension)

Context

©W.Maalej,Mai2010

TaskSeman$cs(UniversalDimension)

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What?

Why? •  Aclassifica$onofsoXware

engineeringtasks(bug

fixing,implementa6on,specifica6on,modeling,

collabora6on…)

•  Asharedcommon

understandingofeachtask

type(ontology)

•  Tomodeltooltypesand

ar$facttypesandassociate

themtotasktypes

•  Example:Ates6ngtooland

testdocumentsarerather

usedduringtes6ngtasks

thanduringmodelingtasks

©W.Maalej,Mai2010

Interac$onHistory(PersonalDimension)

Assis$ngEngineersinSwitchingAr$facts 13

What?

Why?

•  Tomodelthepersonal

switchinghabitsandneed

ofengineers

•  Example:Anengineer

maintainsaTo‐dolistintext

documentinsteadintask

managementsystem

•  Theengineer’sinterac6oninherworkplace(desktop

environment)

•  Individualworkhabits•  Preferredtools•  Preferredar6facts

©W.Maalej,Mai2010 14

Outline

PreliminaryEvalua$onandOutlook

OurContext‐AwareApproach

TheSystem:Switch!

TheSwitchingProblem

2

1

3

4

Assis$ngEngineersinSwitchingAr$facts

©W.Maalej,Mai2010

OverallArchitecture

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Switch!

©W.Maalej,Mai2010

OverallRecommenda$onProcess

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Calculatetherelevanceofeachar$facttoswitchto

Findsuitable ar$facttypesbasedontaskseman$cs

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Recommenda$onHeuris$cs

Assis$ngEngineersinSwitchingAr$facts 17

Dura$on

Frequency

SwitchedTo

Relevance

The6meinsecondstheusageofanar6factbytheengineer

The usage frequency of an artifact by the engineer

Thenumberofswitchesbetweentwoar6facts

Therelevanceofthear6factforthisswitch

©W.Maalej,Mai2010

UIPrinciple1:GroupToolsbyPurposes

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©W.Maalej,Mai2010 Assis$ngEngineersinSwitchingAr$facts 19

UIPrinciple2:RankAr$factsinEachToolGroup

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UIPrinciple3:Ar$factsClickablebyMouseandKeyboard

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Outline

PreliminaryEvalua$onandOutlook

OurContext‐AwareApproach

TheSystem:Switch!

TheSwitchingProblem

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1

3

4

FromWorkToWord

©W.Maalej,Mai2010

PreliminaryEvalua$on

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Internalevalua$onofSwitch!prototype

Paperprototypeexperiment

•  Internaluseforcurrentlysupportedtasktypes(workinprogress)

•  Switch!Supportsbugfixing,tes6nganddocumen6ng

•  Currentversionhandlessourcecode,PDFs,emails,textdocuments,andwebpages

•  Paperprototypeexperiment

•  CreatedfromprintedSwitch!userinterface

•  Conductedwith7experiencedsoXwareengineers(fromEquinux&MacInTUM)

©W.Maalej,Mai2010

PaperPrototype‐Example

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©W.Maalej,Mai2010

PaperPrototype‐Findings

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Subjectsconfirmedtheswitchingproblemandappreciatedourcontext‐awareapproach(5of7subjectswoulduseSwitch!)

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Subjectsneededtogetusedtotheuserinterfaceconcepts(avg.<5min.)

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Subjectswantedtounderstandrecommenda6onra$onale

3

Mostsubjectshadprivacyconcernsduetothesystemwidecontextobserva6on

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©W.Maalej,Mai2010

ConclusionandFutureWork

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Developersencounterfrequentproblemswhile

switchingbetweenar6facts

Ourcontext‐awareapproachseemstobeappropriatefor

addressingswitchingproblems

ExtendSwitch!toothertasktypesand

evaluateitinindustrialseangs

Improverecommenda6onsbydetec6ngthetaskchange

Makeprivacyandusabilityafistorderconcernincontext‐

awarerecommenda6on

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3 4 5

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Feedback,Ques$ons,Sugges$onsandCollabora$onareWelcomed!

AlexanderSahmTUM

sahm@cs.tum.edu

WalidMaalejTUM

maalejw@cs.tum.edu

hAp://TeamWeaver.org