A common problem for any software project is making sure there is sufficient communication between developers to arrive at a common understanding of the changing assumptions and decisions in a project. It is especially difficult for developers to maintain the right level of coordination on distributed projects because of limited opportunity for spontaneous communication and reduced visibility into current work.
Our Approach
Ensemble augments Rational Team Concert with a set of lightweight tools that advise developers of other people who are working on related work artifacts:
- Recommends people who are doing related work. Ensemble analyzes a developer's past and current work to recommend other people who are working on related artifacts – source code, work items and change sets – for communication. Ensemble displays contact information including Lotus Sametime status, and shows related artifacts (with their hierarchical context, where relevant) as links. As a developer moves between work items or source code, Ensemble automatically updates recommendations to show those related to the current artifact.
- Maintains dynamic awareness. Developers can use Ensemble to maintain a small Watch List of other people. Ensemble notifies the developer when one of the people on the Watch List has updated a particular artifact. As in the recommendations, the artifact is displayed as a link which lets the developer examine it without changing context.
- Automatically computes recommendations from existing data. Ensemble uses data stored in a Rational Team Concert repository to identify and recommend people. No additional input is required from developers.
Benefits
Developers spend less time on unnecessary communication because they are given timely and contextual information about people doing related work. They can communicate better with people from different teams and different work sites because they get more visibility into the other person's current work and how it relates to their own.
Project managers are better able to anticipate and address problems early because there is increased transparency of the project work, the relationships between artifacts, and relationships between people.
Ensemble Team
Technical Lead: Peri Tarr, Watson Research Center (Hawthorne)
Kate Ehrlich, Watson Research Center (Cambridge)
Richard P. Gabriel, Watson Research Center (Hawthorne)
Tim Klinger, Watson Research Center (Hawthorne)
Jacquelyn Martino, Watson Research Center (Hawthorne)
Clay Williams, Watson Research Center (Hawthorne)