Expertise browser a quantitative approach to identifying expertise

• Published in: Proceedings - International Conference on Software Engineering pp. 503 - 512
• Main Authors: Mockus, Audris, Herbsleb, James D.
• Format: Conference Proceeding Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY, USA ACM 01.01.2002; IEEE
• Series: ACM Conferences
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Collaborative software; Communication effectiveness; Computer science; control theory; systems; Continents; Cultural differences; Design engineering; Exact sciences and technology; Floors; Global communication; Human-centered computing > Collaborative and social computing; Human-centered computing > Collaborative and social computing > Collaborative and social computing systems and tools > Synchronous editors; Information systems > Information systems applications > Collaborative and social computing systems and tools > Synchronous editors; Permission; Programming; Resumes; Social and professional topics > Professional topics > Management of computing and information systems > Project and people management > Project staffing; Software; Software engineering; Software tool; Software development; Safety-critical software; Distributed algorithm; Concurrent engineering; Distributed system; Database management system; Expertise; Information browsing; Software engineering
• ISBN: 158113472X; 9781581134728
• ISSN: 0270-5257
• DOI: 10.1145/581339.581401

Finding relevant expertise is a critical need in collaborative software engineering, particularly in geographically distributed developments. We introduce a tool that uses data from change management systems to locate people with desired expertise. It uses a quantification of experience, and presents evidence to validate this quantification as a measure of expertise. The tool enables developers, for example, easily to distinguish someone who has worked only briefly in a particular area of the code from someone who has more extensive experience, and to locate people with broad expertise throughout large parts of the product, such as module or even subsystems. In addition, it allows a user to discover expertise profiles for individuals or organizations. Data from a deployment of the tool in a large software development organization shows that newer, remote sites tend to use the tool for expertise location more frequently. Larger, more established sites used the tool to find expertise profiles for people or organizations. We conclude by describing extensions that provide continuous awareness of ongoing work and an interactive, quantitative resume.