Regulating application task development

• US 10,643,161 B2
• Filed: 11/28/2012
• Issued: 05/05/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus LLC (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Micro Focus LLC (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Ben-Yehuda, Itay, Shmiel, Ronen, Yom Tov, Nir
• Primary Examiner(s): Bullock, Jr., Lewis A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Huynh, Tina
• Application Number:
  US14/646,961
• Publication Number:
  US 20150324723A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,715 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/77 Software metrics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work

Abstract

A technique includes receiving a plurality of metrics for a plurality of tasks associated with developing an application, where each of the metrics is associated with one of the tasks and indicates a progress of the associated task. The technique includes receiving weights, where each weight is associated with one of the tasks and indicates a user assigned importance of the associated task. The technique includes displaying with the tool an indicator to allow regulation of task development, where the displaying includes causing the tool to prioritize the tasks for future development of the application based at least in part on the metrics and the weights.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

in a tool comprising a processor, receiving a plurality of metrics for a plurality of tasks associated with developing an application, wherein each task of the plurality of tasks is executed to develop an associated feature of the application, and each of the metrics of the plurality of metrics being associated with one of the tasks and representing a result produced by the associated task by ongoing execution of the associated task, wherein a given metric of the plurality of metrics represents a measure of a current performance of the feature being developed by the task associated with the given metric relative to a predetermined performance goal for the feature;

in the tool, receiving weights, each weight of the weights being associated with the one of the tasks and indicating a user assigned importance of the associated task; and

displaying with the tool an indicator to allow regulation of task development, the displaying including causing the tool to prioritize future execution of the plurality of tasks for future development of the application based at least in part on the plurality of metrics and the weights.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the given metric represents a difference between the predetermined performance goal and the current performance of the feature.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the tool to prioritize the tasks comprises:

for each task of the plurality of tasks, determining a difference between a goal for the associated metric and a progress indicated by the associated metric; and

for each task of the plurality of tasks, determining an associated ranking of the task based at least in part on the difference and the associated weight.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the tasks is refined in a plurality of iterations to develop the application, the method further comprising:

displaying the indicator to allow a progress of the metric to be tracked over the plurality of iterations.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the tasks are refined in a plurality of iterations to develop the application, the method further comprising:

for each iteration, determining an aggregate value for the metrics; and

displaying the indicator to allow the aggregate value of the plurality of iterations to be tracked over time.

6. A system comprising:

an interface to receive data indicative of a plurality of metrics and a plurality of tool weights, wherein a plurality of tasks are associated with developing an application, each task of the plurality of tasks is executed to develop an associated feature of the application, and each of the metrics of the plurality of metrics is associated with one of the tasks and represents a result produced by the associated task by ongoing execution of the associated task, and each tool weight of the plurality of tool weights is associated with the one of the tasks of the plurality of tasks and indicates a user assigned importance of the associated task, wherein a given metric of the plurality of metrics represents a measure of a current performance of the feature being developed by the task associated with the given metric relative to a predetermined performance goal for the feature; and

a tool comprising a processor to provide an indicator to allow regulation of task development, the tool being adapted to prioritize future execution of the plurality of tasks for future development of the application based at least in part on the metrics and the plurality of tool weights.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the given metric represents a difference between the predetermined performance goal and the current performance of the feature.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the plurality of tasks are refined in a plurality of iterations to develop the application, the tool being further adapted to:

for each iteration, determine an aggregate value for the plurality of metrics; and

generate an indicator to track the aggregate value of the plurality of iterations.

9. An article comprising a non-transitory storage medium to store instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to:

receive a plurality of metrics for a plurality of tasks associated with developing an application, wherein each task of the plurality of tasks is executed to develop an associated feature of the application, and each of the metrics of the plurality of metrics being associated with one of the tasks of the plurality of tasks and representing a result produced by the associated task by ongoing execution of the associated task, wherein a given metric of the plurality of metrics represents a measure of a current performance of the feature being developed by the task associated with the given metric relative to a predetermined performance goal for the feature;

receive weights, each weight of the weights being associated with one of the tasks of the plurality of tasks and indicating a user assigned importance of the associated task; and

generate at least one indicator to regulate task development, the at least one indicator to prioritize future execution of the plurality of tasks for future development of the application based at least in part on the plurality of metrics and the weights.

10. The article of claim 9, wherein the given metric represents a difference between the predetermined performance goal and the current performance of the feature.