Snapshot Metrics Are Not Enough: Analyzing Software Repositories with Longitudinal Metrics

TL;DR

This paper introduces PRiME, a tool for computing and visualizing longitudinal software process metrics, emphasizing the importance of trend analysis over snapshot metrics for better decision-making in software development.

Contribution

The paper presents PRiME, a novel tool that enables analysis of software process metrics over time, filling the gap left by snapshot-based metrics tools.

Findings

Longitudinal metrics reveal process insights not visible in snapshot data.

PRiME supports metrics like productivity, issue density, issue spoilage, and bus factor.

Visualizing trends aids better decision-making in software projects.

Abstract

Software metrics capture information about software development processes and products. These metrics support decision-making, e.g., in team management or dependency selection. However, existing metrics tools measure only a snapshot of a software project. Little attention has been given to enabling engineers to reason about metric trends over time -- longitudinal metrics that give insight about process, not just product. In this work, we present PRiME (PRocess MEtrics), a tool for computing and visualizing process metrics. The currently-supported metrics include productivity, issue density, issue spoilage, and bus factor. We illustrate the value of longitudinal data and conclude with a research agenda. The tool's demo video can be watched at https://youtu.be/YigEHy3_JCo. The source code can be found at https://github.com/SoftwareSystemsLaboratory/prime.