Software Analytics in Continuous Delivery: A Case Study on Success Factors

Background: During the period of one year, ING developed an approach for software analytics within an environment of a large number of software engineering teams working in a Continuous Delivery as a Service setting. Goal: Our objective is to examine what factors helped and hindered the implementation of software analytics in such an environment, in order to improve future software analytics activities. Method: We analyzed artifacts delivered by the software analytics project, and performed semi-structured interviews with 15 stakeholders. Results: We identified 16 factors that helped the implementation of software analytics, and 20 factors that hindered the project. Conclusions: Upfront defining and communicating the aims, standardization of data at an early stage, build efficient visualizations, and an empirical approach help companies to improve software analytics projects.