Backstory: A Search Tool for Software Developers Supporting Scalable Sensemaking
Gina Danielle Venolia · 2008
Software developers have many information needs that that could be answered using written text in the various repositories at their disposal, but they underutilize these knowledge resources for a variety of good reasons. Backstory is a search tool for software developers aimed at addressing those reasons, and so to improve knowledge flow among teammates. The results of a survey of developers current search habits and desires for a new tool are presented as background. A case study of root-cause analysis is also presented, which informs the design of Backstory. Additionally the case study adds detail to an accepted model of sensemaking. Finally, the Backstory UI design suggests that a tool can support sensemaking in such a way that it’s not intimidating or distracting for simple investigations, but has mechanisms that the user may employ incrementally as the complexity of an investigation increases – a characteristic referred to here as scalable sensemaking.