ABSTRACT
In the constantly evolving world of software development, switching back and forth between tasks has become the norm. While task switching often allows developers to perform tasks effectively and may increase creativity via the flexible pathway, there are also consequences to frequent task-switching. For high-momentum tasks like software development, "flow", the highly productive state of concentration, is paramount. Each switch distracts the developers' flow, requiring them to switch mental state and an additional immersion period to get back into the flow. However, the wasted time due to time fragmentation caused by task switching is largely invisible and unnoticed by developers and managers. We conducted a survey with 141 software developers to investigate their perceptions of differences between task switching and task interruption and to explore whether they perceive task switchings as disruptive as interruptions. We found that practitioners perceive considerable similarities between the disruptiveness of task switching (either planned or unplanned) and random interruptions. The high level of cognitive cost and low performance are the main consequences of task switching articulated by our respondents. Our findings broaden the understanding of flow change among software practitioners in terms of the characteristics and categories of disruptive switches as well as the consequences of interruptions caused by daily meetings.
- Zahra Shakeri Hossein Abad, Oliver Karras, Kurt Schneider, Ken Barker, and Mike Bauer. 2018. Task Interruption in Software Development Projects: What Makes some Interruptions More Disruptive than Others?. In Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering (EASE'18). ACM. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Zahra Shakeri Hossein Abad, Guenther Ruhe, and Mike Bauer. 2017. Task Interruptions in Requirements Engineering: Reality versus Perceptions!. In Requirements Engineering Conference (RE), 2017 IEEE 25th International. IEEE, 6--15.Google Scholar
- Zahra Shakeri Hossein Abad, Guenther Ruhe, and Mike Bauer. 2017. Understanding Task Interruptions in Service Oriented Software Development Projects: An Exploratory Study. In Proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Software Engineering Research and Industrial Practice (SER&IP '17). IEEE Press, 34--40. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Zahra Shakeri Hossein Abad, Alex Shymka, Jenny Le, Noor Hammad, and Guenther Ruhe. 2017. A Visual Narrative Path from Switching to Resuming a Requirements Engineering Task. In Requirements Engineering Conference (RE), 2017 IEEE 25th International. IEEE, 442--447.Google Scholar
- Steve Adolph, Wendy Hall, and Philippe Kruchten. 2011. Using grounded theory to study the experience of software development. Empirical Software Engineering 16, 4 (2011), 487--513. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Erik M Altmann and J.Gregory Trafton. 2002. Memory for goals: an activation-based model. Cognitive Science 26, 1 (2002), 39--83.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Carey D Chisholm et al. 2000. Academic Emergency Medicine 7, 11 (2000), 1239--1243.Google Scholar
- Jan Chong and Rosanne Siino. 2006. Interruptions on Software Teams: A Comparison of Paired and Solo Programmers. In Proceedings of the 2006 20th Anniversary Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. ACM, 29--38. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Tom DeMarco and Tim Lister. 2013. Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams. Addison-Wesley. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Van Solingen et al. 1998. Interrupts: Just a Minute Never Is. IEEE software 15, 5 (1998), 97--103. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Graham R Gibbs. 2002. Qualitative data analysis: Explorations with NVivo. Open University.Google Scholar
- Barbara Kitchenham et al. 2017. Robust Statistical Methods for Empirical Software Engineering", journal="Empirical Software Engineering. 22, 2 (2017), 579--630. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Chris Parnin and Spencer Rugaber. 2011. Resumption Strategies for Interrupted Programming Tasks. Software Quality Journal 19, 1 (2011), 5--34. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Dario D Salvucci and Niels A Taatgen. 2010. The multitasking mind. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
- David W Scott. 1979. On Optimal and Data-based Histograms. Biometrika 66, 3 (1979), 605--610.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Viktoria Stray, Dag IK Sjøberg, and Tore Dybå. 2016. The Daily Stand-up Meeting: A Grounded Theory Study. Journal of Systems and Software 114 (2016), 101--124. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Colin A. Terry, Punya Mishra, and Cary J. Roseth. 2016. Preference for multitasking, technological dependency, student metacognition, & pervasive technology use: An experimental intervention. Computers in Human Behavior 65 (2016), 241--251. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Bogdan et al. Vasilescu. 2016. The Sky is Not the Limit: Multitasking Across GitHub Projects. In Proceedings of the 38th International Conference on Software Engineering. 994--1005. Google ScholarDigital Library
Recommendations
Task Interruption in Software Development Projects: What Makes some Interruptions More Disruptive than Others?
EASE '18: Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering 2018Multitasking has always been an inherent part of software development and is known as the primary source of interruptions due to task switching in software development teams. Developing software involves a mix of analytical and creative work, and ...
A diary study of task switching and interruptions
CHI '04: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsWe report on a diary study of the activities of information workers aimed at characterizing how people interleave multiple tasks amidst interruptions. The week-long study revealed the type and complexity of activities performed, the nature of the ...
Preparing to resume an interrupted task: effects of prospective goal encoding and retrospective rehearsal
Notification user interfacesWe examine people's strategic cognitive responses to being interrupted while performing a task. Based on memory theory, we propose that resumption of a task after interruption is facilitated by preparation during the interruption lag, or the interval ...
Comments