Brought duplicate-code detection to Philips, and teams removed 18,688 lines
I introduced an open-source duplicate-code detector to Philips and built the program around it, with guides, a hands-on workshop and a before-and-after report teams could run themselves. With a senior director as sponsor, I ran workshops across business units, and teams I worked with removed 18,688 lines of duplicate code.
- Quality
- Cost
- Teaching
18,688
duplicate lines removed
owner-reported in the 2019 review
6+
business units ran the tool
per the reviewed email set
What would have happened
Duplicate code grew unnoticed, so every fix had to be made in several places.
The call
Measure duplication with a free tool teams can run themselves, and pair every report with a hands-on session.
What I did
Introduced the tool, wrote the installation and usage guides, designed the workshop and the before-and-after reporting template, ran sessions from September 2019 and compiled the results for leadership.
What changed
Developers across at least six business units ran the tool and reported back; a senior director asked for a mechanism to remove 23% of duplicate code; teams I influenced removed 18,688 duplicate lines.
Proof
The original documents are held in my private record and can be shared on request.
What people said
“Great Datta. It provides good insight. As next step we need to devise mechanism to remove and commit 23% of duplicate code.”