Chapter 4. Trends and data from source control

 

This chapter covers

  • Learning from your SCM system’s data alone
  • Utilizing your SCM to get the richest data possible
  • Getting data from your SCM systems into your metrics collection system
  • Learning trends from your SCM systems

Project tracking is a great place to start when you’re looking for data that can give you insight into the performance of your team. The next data mine that you want to tap into is your source control management (SCM) system. In the scope of our application lifecycle, this is highlighted in figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1. You are here: SCM in the scope of the application lifecycle.

SCM is where the action is; that’s where developers are checking in code, adding reviews, and collaborating on solutions. I’ve often been on teams where it was like pulling teeth to get developers to move cards or add comments in the project tracking system, which ends up leading to a huge blind spot for anyone outside the development team interested in the progress of a project. You can eliminate that blind spot by looking at the data generated by the use of your SCM.

If we revise the questions we asked in chapter 3, we get the types of who, what, and how through data from SCM, as shown in figure 4.2.

Figure 4.2. The who, what, and how from SCM

Here are two questions you can answer from your SCM systems:

  • How much change is happening in your codebase?
  • How well is/are your development team(s) working together?

4.1. What is source control management?

4.2. Preparing for analysis: generate the richest set of data you can

4.3. The data you’ll be working with; what you can get from SCM

4.4. Key SCM metrics: spotting trends in your data

4.5. Case study: moving to the pull request workflow and incorporating- g quality engineering

4.6. Summary

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