This question is not answered. 
Replies: 4 - Pages: 1 - Last Post: Nov 3, 2010 7:32 PM Last Post By: Patrick.Meyer Threads: [ Previous | Next ] Posts: 315
Registered: Nov 28, 2006 05:43:16 AM Measure development time with ClearCase. Is that possible?
Posted: Aug 11, 2010 09:32:00 AM Hi folks,
We are working with ClearCase UCM and we got a request to provide a report that summarizes the invested time on each activity.
The dev. manager wants to know how much time was invested for each dev. activity, and then to summarize it all.
I'm trying to think if I can find that information in ClearCase data (we are not using CQ unfortunately).
I wouldn't summarize the time between creation of activity to delivery time since it could be that the activity will be delivered later to another stream.
I'm tending to list the activity content (change-set) and then calculate the time for each file-version, separately.
I'm not sure if it's possible , since ClearCase provides the creation time only. I can calculate the time between creation of version X to creation of version X+1 (or X+CHECKEDOUT), but does that time really indicate the invested time?
What do you think? Is that request reasonable? Is it possible to provide it?
Thanks!
Posts: 417
Registered: Sep 28, 2005 02:20:11 PM Re: Measure development time with ClearCase. Is that possible?
Posted: Aug 11, 2010 11:34:06 AM
in response to: cm2006's post I'm not sure that you could pull those kinds of metrics out of ANY SCM system. Why? Because the best you can do is determine when:1) A person started working on an activity (by creating it in CC, or performing a "workon" action in CQ)
2) A person started editing a given file in conjunction with working on the issue
3) When a file was checked in as part of that activity.
4) When it was delivered in CC and -- if using CQ -- was moved to a "complete" state.
In a Pure-Clearcase environment, you're limited because there is no way to account for the time you spend:
- READING the code to gain an understanding of it.
- compiling/running/testing the code.
- thinking about how to solve the problem or test that it was solved.
- in modeling tools, meetings, code reviews, etc.
The best you can do is to get a "best guess" approximation. And that time may be wildly inaccurate. More importantly, it may be worse for developers who think problems through on whiteboards/paper or in modeling tools before starting coding.
Since the checkout time is lost when you check a file in, you would have to do something like:
1) Create a preop checkin trigger that uses ct lsco to get the checkin time and then attaches an attribute to the version being checked in containing the computed time spent in the checked out state and the original checkout time.
2) create a postop deliver -complete trigger that uses the checkout times to compute some sort of time spent in the activity based on:
- When the activity was created
- The checkout times and time spend checked out of the versions in the change set
- The time spent between starting the deliver (creation time of the deliverbl will work if you can't find it any other way) and completing the deliver.
This time would be sent wherever you want. You could attach it to the deliver activity, send it to an external database, email it, etc.
This, of course only collects time data moving forward. And like most metrics and statistics (Effective Lines Of Code, etc), it needs context to make any sense, and without that context can become the path "paved with good intentions..."
=================================================================
Brian Cowan
Advisory Software Engineer
ClearCase Customer Advocacy Group (CAG)
Rational Software
IBM Software Group
550 King St
Littleton, MA 01460
Phone: 1.978.899.9471
Web: http://www.ibm.com/software/rational/support/
Posts: 561
Registered: Nov 19, 2007 06:06:36 AM Re: Measure development time with ClearCase. Is that possible?
Posted: Aug 12, 2010 03:45:44 AM
in response to: brcowan's post That's interesting issue. I can tell from my point of view, that sometimes we are asked if we can provide to one of our products (CompBL, a meaningful code comparison for UCM) a report that summarizes the time spent on development.
I do agree with all Brian's say. Take into consideration another two things:
1. Users may move file versions to another activity
2. It could be that user checks out 5 files simultaneously and then check them all in after one hour.
So is it considered as one working hour or 5 hours ...?
Regards,
Tamir Gefen, GoMidjets
http://www.gomidjets.com/
Posts: 207
Registered: Oct 31, 2006 04:24:09 PM Re: Measure development time with ClearCase. Is that possible?
Posted: Aug 12, 2010 10:44:10 PM
in response to: cm2006's post In my experience, gathering this type of metrics is a pretty useless undertaking... Not only will developers find this endeavor highly suspect (they'll assume management will use the results as input for the next layoff round) they'll quickly find ways to game the system.
My 2c...
Jozef
Posts: 5
Registered: Sep 07, 2010 08:03:03 PM Re: Measure development time with ClearCase. Is that possible?
Posted: Nov 03, 2010 07:32:42 PM
in response to: cm2006's post Tgefen wrote:That's interesting issue.
I can tell from my point of view, that sometimes we are asked if we can provide to one of our products (CompBL, a meaningful code comparison for UCM) a report that summarizes the time spent on development.
I do agree with all Brian's say. Take into consideration another two things:
1. Users may move file versions to another activity
2. It could be that user checks out 5 files simultaneously and then check them all in after one hour.
So is it considered as one working hour or 5 hours ...?
Regards,
Tamir Gefen, GoMidjets
http://www.gomidjets.com/
It is exactly what I need, The link you provided is very useful, Your effort is appreciated!
Use the search field to find all types of content in My developerWorks with that tag.
Use the slider bar to see more or fewer tags.
Popular tags shows the top tags for this particular type of content or application that you're viewing.
My tags shows your tags for this particular type of content or application that you're viewing.
Use the search field to find all types of content in My developerWorks with that tag. Use the slider bar to see more or fewer tags. Popular tags shows the top tags for this particular type of content or application that you're viewing. My tags shows your tags for this particular type of content or application that you're viewing.MoreLess 
No comments:
Post a Comment