Call for Participation: Improving Task Switching using a System to Create Task Context-Snapshots

04.06.2024 by Juliana de Souza

We are inviting software developers to participate in our lab study exploring the effects of TaskSnap, a software that lets you create and resume snapshots of your task context.

In their daily work, developers frequently need to switch their tasks, for example when they’re interrupted by a co-worker or when completing a task. Often times, it is quite cumbersome to resume an interrupted task, as developers need to rebuild the task context, i.e. reopen all the code files, websites and documents that are needed to complete a task.

The study aims to evaluate how TaskSnap can support and improve task switch and resumption times, in letting users create a snapshot of their current task context (i.e. all the opened files, documents, websites) at the time of an interruption, and reopening them when resuming a task.

Procedure

You can participate virtually (through MS Teams) at a time convenient to you.
The lab study takes around 1 hour and 45 minutes.
We will ask you to work on and switch between three tasks from a virtual machine.
Afterwards, we will ask you about your experience through a short interview.

Reward

By participating in this study, you are contributing to an ongoing effort to improve developers’ workflow.

In addition, you will…

… receive a gift certificate of 30 CHF/USD for Amazon, Starbucks, Galaxus, or OrellFüessli.
… have the chance to learn more about your artifact management habits, and task switching and resumption strategies.

Data Privacy

The study is conducted inside a Virtual Machine, which means that no data from your own computer will be collected. In the VM, a software will capture data on how frequently you switch between different applications, names of apps, browser tabs, and files in the IDE. You can find more details about the collected data on the Consent Form.