Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Adopting automated bug assignment in practice — a longitudinal case study at Ericsson
RISE Research Institutes of Sweden. Lund University, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7879-4371
Ericsson, Sweden.
Lund University, Sweden.
Ericsson, Sweden; Verint, Hungary.
Show others and affiliations
2024 (English)In: Empirical Software Engineering, ISSN 1382-3256, E-ISSN 1573-7616, Vol. 29, no 5, article id 126Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

[Context] The continuous inflow of bug reports is a considerable challenge in large development projects. Inspired by contemporary work on mining software repositories, we designed a prototype bug assignment solution based on machine learning in 2011-2016. The prototype evolved into an internal Ericsson product, TRR, in 2017-2018. TRR’s first bug assignment without human intervention happened in April 2019. [Objective] Our study evaluates the adoption of TRR within its industrial context at Ericsson, i.e., we provide lessons learned related to the productization of a research prototype within a company. Moreover, we investigate 1) how TRR performs in the field, 2) what value TRR provides to Ericsson, and 3) how TRR has influenced the ways of working. [Method] We conduct a preregistered industrial case study combining interviews with TRR stakeholders, minutes from sprint planning meetings, and bug-tracking data. The data analysis includes thematic analysis, descriptive statistics, and Bayesian causal analysis. [Results] TRR is now an incorporated part of the bug assignment process. Considering the abstraction levels of the telecommunications stack, high-level modules are more positive while low-level modules experienced some drawbacks. Most importantly, some bug reports directly reach low-level modules without first having passed through fundamental root-cause analysis steps at higher levels. On average, TRR automatically assigns 30% of the incoming bug reports with an accuracy of 75%. Auto-routed TRs are resolved around 21% faster within Ericsson, and TRR has saved highly seasoned engineers many hours of work. Indirect effects of adopting TRR include process improvements, process awareness, increased communication, and higher job satisfaction. [Conclusions] TRR has saved time at Ericsson, but the adoption of automated bug assignment was more intricate compared to similar endeavors reported from other companies. We primarily attribute the difference to the very large size of the organization and the complex products. Key facilitators in the successful adoption include a gradual introduction, product champions, and careful stakeholder analysis. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer , 2024. Vol. 29, no 5, article id 126
Keywords [en]
Industrial research; Machine learning; Software prototyping; Technology transfer; Assignment solutions; Bug assignment; Bug reports; Development programmes; Ericsson; Industrial adoption; Longitudinal case study; Machine-learning; Mining software; Software repositories; Job satisfaction
National Category
Computer and Information Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ri:diva-74629DOI: 10.1007/s10664-024-10507-yScopus ID: 2-s2.0-85200050276OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ri-74629DiVA, id: diva2:1887204
Available from: 2024-08-07 Created: 2024-08-07 Last updated: 2024-08-07Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(3742 kB)27 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 3742 kBChecksum SHA-512
5ef387e42934ba332f23d3730836e091adac67bfb064a9618764b0f415a1811451b247abc94fa9a863f1e872c1257932a3082339e2a1aad236be63c69ba310ac
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

Other links

Publisher's full textScopus

Authority records

Borg, Markus

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Borg, Markus
By organisation
RISE Research Institutes of Sweden
In the same journal
Empirical Software Engineering
Computer and Information Sciences

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 27 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 242 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf