Sixty percent surveyed still conducting traditional in-person reviews despite growth in distributed teams and availability of collaborative tools
BURLINGTON, Mass. – May 17, 2010 – Klocwork, Inc., the global leader in automated source code analysis solutions for improving developer productivity, today shared results from a new independent research study commissioned by Klocwork and conducted by Forrester Consulting that revealed inconsistent and limited use of modern tools and technologies that can help facilitate the code review process.
The study surveyed US-based software development professionals involved with code reviews within their respective organizations with the goal of learning about their current code review practices. Key findings from the survey include:
- 70% of respondents sometimes or always work with outsourced vendors for parts of their development work and only 36% of respondents have a centralized team structure with all members working in one location
- 60% of organizations surveyed reported that their code review team communications are still primarily conducted via in-person meetings; only 16% of organizations utilize web-based tools and technologies to facilitate a majority of their reviews
Given the significant use of outsourcing and geographically distributed development teams, the use of traditional in-person code reviews suggests code reviews are not keeping pace with modern software development practices. Combined with the low usage rate of modern tools, it’s clear that software development teams are missing an opportunity to automate, streamline and improve out-of-date code review practices.
"To be effective, code review needs to be a collaborative effort that brings the right people, with the right skill set to the code being reviewed," says Gwyn Fisher, CTO, Klocwork. "Development teams need to change the culture of reviews which means making them less top-down and heavyweight by using modern collaborative tools, while adding automated code verification technologies like static analysis into the mix."
For more information:
- Join guest speaker Dave West, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research, Inc., as he discusses the survey results in a live, one-hour webinar on Tues. May 18. Register here.
- Download a copy of the full study here.
About Klocwork
Klocwork helps developers create more secure and reliable software. Our tools analyze source code on-the-fly, simplify peer code reviews, and extend the life of complex software. Over 1000 customers, including the biggest brands in the mobile device, consumer electronics, medical technologies, telecom, military and aerospace sectors, have made Klocwork part of their software development process. Thousands of software developers, architects, and development managers rely on our tools everyday to improve their productivity while creating better software.
Media Contact:
Meranda Powers
1.866.556.2967
press@klocwork.com
About the Author: Meranda Powers
Having spent the last 12 years in various marketing communications roles within technology companies, I’m currently responsible for Klocwork’s outbound programs and PR. Most days, you’ll find me writing about our latest success or planning and executing a new program to spread the word about Klocwork. And from time-to-time, I like to torture co-workers with unsolicited cat videos. 
