Lawrence G. Votta Software Production Research Department Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies (formerly AT&T), Naperville, IL 60566, +1.630.713.4612 (Off) +1.630.713.4982 (Fax) votta@research.bell-labs.com

Research:

My goals are to establish a spectrum of techniques for the empirical study of large software developments. These techniques range from retrospective, anecdotal (but credible) studies to classical experiments that are repeatable and robust, even when large variances exist because of the many social factors present. My long term vision is to create a model which will promote the study of large software developments by providing the necessary foundation for empirical research. A direct practical result of this work are better techniques for measuring and improving software and hardware processes as they are being used to make products.

Summer Summary:

This summer was very busy with summer visiting faculty, the code decay project, and starting a new research area studying geographically distributed development. Walter Tichy and I worked on building new instrumentation for experiments to measure the effectiveness of patterns in a review context. Nancy Staudenmayer (Duke University), Dewayne Perry, Tracy Lewis and I worked on identifying organizational factors affecting code decay. Finally, Tom Finholt ( CREW/University of Michigan), Jim Herbsleb, and I have started a research project with GSM Wireless development to reduce their product development cycles in their geograhically distributed software development environment.