The organization of data from the coding task allows a close look at the way effort affected the task. What this data organization does not do is provide a good strategy for looking at how effort was applied. Each data point in the table captures a perspective on the task that we can represent effectively in a graph. We can easily see how effort was applied across the given task categories. What we cannot see is the influence of process on the task. For instance, I can describe two data sets with precisely the same total time in each category. What that doesn't tell me is the relationship between the categories. This is precisely the analysis task we undertake in this assignment.
Complete the Transitions worksheet in the workbook. The entries in the cells indicate the number of times you transitioned from the start state (on the left) to the state on the right.
Prepare a state machine representation for the episode data for your work process. The states are the categories (Read Code, Prepare Test Case, Execute Test Case, Evaluate Test Results, Plan Revision, Implement Revision). The radius of the circle for each state should be proportional to the percent of total effort devoted to that category. The transitions should demonstrate the process the individual employed by showing how the tasks related over time. The values on the arcs should provide the frequency showing how often the individual moved from a particular state to another, and a collection of order pairs indicating the episode transition (from-to). Be sure to indicate what the initial and final states are. The state model should be displayed in distinct worksheet in the workbook.
Prepare a graphical representation for the same data using the template provided in the Graph worksheet. In this representation, time is the horizontal axis and each state is represented on the y-axis. The time axis tells you when an event occurred and shows the duration of the event by displaying the time in a state as the length of a line segment. You graph the time in each state by a pair of points, one indicating when in the episode began and when it ended. Note the length of an episode corresponds to the difference between these points. The two subjects episode data graphical models should be in distinct worksheets in the workbook.
Complete the tasks, then upload your completed workbook as the deliverable for the process analysis assignment.