JP7494146B2 - Community revitalization device and method - Google Patents

Description

An embodiment of the present invention relates to a community revitalization device and method.

In general, when developing a software product, a tool (source code management tool) is used to manage source code written in a programming language.

With such a source code management tool, it is possible to realize efficient development of software products by sharing knowledge within a community in which users with knowledge of the source code managed by the source code management tool can participate.

Incidentally, in the above-mentioned source code management tool, for example, a user can request (assign) a task that he or she has created to other users participating in the community. However, if the task is not assigned to an appropriate user, the motivation of the user will decrease and the activity level in the community will decrease. In this case, the community will not be active, and there is a possibility that efficient software product development will not be realized.

International Publication No. 2013/191054

The problem that the present invention aims to solve is to provide a community revitalization device and method that can assign tasks to appropriate users participating in a community.

According to an embodiment, a community activation device is provided that manages a community in which a plurality of first users participate. The community activation device includes a storage means, a first acquisition means, a second acquisition means, and an allocation means. The storage means stores user information indicating each of the plurality of first users, the user information including a skill level of the first user and a motivation coefficient indicating the motivation of the first user. The first acquisition means acquires task information including the difficulty of the task when a second user requests a task from the community. The second acquisition means acquires from the storage means a plurality of user information including a skill level corresponding to the difficulty included in the acquired task information. The allocation means assigns the task indicated by the task information to a first user determined from among the plurality of first users indicated by the plurality of user information based on a motivation coefficient included in the acquired plurality of user information.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of a network system according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of a community revitalization device. FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining a decrease in a user's motivation. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of a community revitalization device. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure of the community revitalization device. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a task creation screen. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of task information. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of user information. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a task allocation unit. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure of an allocation process. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the relationship between skill level, task difficulty, and motivation coefficient in the allocation process. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining types of tasks assigned to users. 11A and 11B are diagrams showing examples of a title, a body text, a difficulty level, and a deadline specified on a task creation screen. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a specific example of task information. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a specific example of task information to which a person in charge has been added. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a task completion determination unit. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure for a task completion determination process. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of user information in which the cumulative number of handled tasks has been updated. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of user information in which a motivation coefficient has been deducted. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a motivation coefficient update unit. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a motivation coefficient table. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure of a motivation coefficient updating process. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of user information in which a motivation coefficient has been updated. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of user information in which a motivation coefficient has been updated. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a technology level updating unit. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a technique level determination table. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure for a technique level update process. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an activity amount determining unit. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure of an activity amount determining unit. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of user information in which a motivation coefficient has been deducted. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a notification screen for notifying a decrease in a motivation coefficient. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of user information registered in a storage unit when a user joins a community. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure of a process of assigning tasks to users by using a second mathematical model.

Hereinafter, the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.
Fig. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a network system in this embodiment. As shown in Fig. 1, the network system in this embodiment includes a community revitalization device 10 and a plurality of user terminals 20. The community revitalization device 10 and the plurality of user terminals 20 are communicatively connected via a network 30 such as the Internet.

The community revitalization device 10 is used in the development of a software product and operates to provide a source code management tool (platform) to be used by a user (engineer) developing the software product. The source code management tool has various functions, such as a function to manage source code for realizing the software product and a function to manage a community in which users with knowledge of the source code participate (are registered as members). In this embodiment, it is assumed that a community is created for each source code managed in the source code management tool, but it may be created from other perspectives.

Each of the multiple user terminals 20 is an information processing device such as a personal computer that is used by a user when developing the above-mentioned software product. By using the user terminal 20, the user can develop software using the source code management tool provided by the community revitalization device 10 as described above.

Figure 2 shows an example of the hardware configuration of the community revitalization device 10 shown in Figure 1. The community revitalization device 10 includes a CPU 11, a non-volatile memory 12, a main memory 13, and a communication device 14.

The CPU 11 is a processor for controlling the operation of various components within the community revitalization device 10. The CPU 11 may be a single processor or may be composed of multiple processors. The CPU 11 executes various programs loaded from the non-volatile memory 12 to the main memory 13. These programs include, for example, an operating system (OS) and an application program for implementing the above-mentioned source code management tool.

The non-volatile memory 12 is a storage medium used as an auxiliary storage device. The main memory 13 is a storage medium used as a main storage device. Although only the non-volatile memory 12 and the main memory 13 are shown in FIG. 2, the community revitalization device 10 may also include other storage devices, such as a hard disk drive (HDD) and a solid state drive (SSD).

The communication device 14 is a device configured to communicate with external devices such as the multiple user terminals 20 described above.

By the way, users of source code management tools can share knowledge (information) with other users in the above-mentioned community.

Specifically, a user can create a task related to source code managed by the source code management tool, and request the task from a community in which users with knowledge of the source code participate. Such a task is assigned to a user designated by the user who created (requested) the task, and the user to whom the task is assigned responds to the task. This allows knowledge to be shared between users, making it possible to develop software products efficiently. The above-mentioned source code management tool also includes a function that allows users to post comments to the community (or to specific users participating in the community), for example, to hold discussions about source code among themselves and obtain the knowledge of other users.

For example, Gitlab can be used as a source code management tool. When the source code management tool is Gitlab, tasks created by a user include, for example, a Merge Request (MR) that requests a review of modified or edited source code, and an Issue that requests a modification based on a defect in the source code. A task may also include a question to another user regarding the modification of the source code.

Here, in order to develop software products efficiently, it is useful to actively share knowledge in the above-mentioned community and to increase the motivation of the entire community (i.e., to revitalize the community).

In this case, for example, if the motivation of the entire community is defined as the sum of the motivation of each of the multiple users participating in the community, it is believed that the motivation of the entire community can be improved by increasing the number of users participating in the community. On the other hand, if the motivation of the entire community (the sum, average, or median of the motivation of the multiple users participating in the community, etc.) falls below a predetermined value, users may leave the community, and the motivation of the entire community may decrease.

In other words, in order to increase the number of users participating in a community and improve the motivation of the entire community, it is necessary to increase the motivation of users who are already participating in the community.

The motivation of the above users is thought to increase by responding to tasks requested by other users such as the above MR and Isue (i.e., contributing to the community).

However, if there is a mismatch between the user's technical level (the technician's skill level) and the technical level required to complete a task (i.e., the difficulty of the task), the user's motivation may not increase even if the user completes a task requested by another user.

Specifically, for example, if a user with a high level of skill (hereafter referred to as an advanced engineer) is assigned a task with low difficulty, the motivation of the advanced engineer may not increase. Similarly, for example, if a user with a low level of skill (hereafter referred to as a beginner engineer) is assigned a task with high difficulty, the motivation of the beginner engineer may not increase.

There is a concern that if appropriate tasks are not assigned to engineers, whether they are senior or junior, their motivation will not improve.

Furthermore, as shown in Figure 3, from the viewpoint of processing time, etc., users tend to assign tasks to senior engineers. In such cases, the number of tasks that junior engineers can handle decreases, making it difficult to improve the motivation of the junior engineers.

Furthermore, as mentioned above, if the motivation of users participating in a community does not improve, the motivation of the community as a whole will not improve either, so in such a community, for example, it is not possible to expect new entrants such as novice engineers (i.e., new users joining the community). This makes it even more difficult to improve the motivation of the community as a whole.

In this embodiment, therefore, a mechanism is provided that efficiently improves the motivation of users participating in a community by assigning tasks to appropriate users, thereby improving the motivation of the entire community (activating the community). Note that an "appropriate user" in this embodiment is assumed to be a user whose skill level is small enough to complete a task of a certain level of difficulty.

Figure 4 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the community revitalization device 10 according to this embodiment. As shown in Figure 4, the community revitalization device 10 includes a storage unit 101, a task acquisition unit 102, a task allocation unit 103, a task completion determination unit 104, a motivation coefficient update unit 105, a skill level update unit 106, and an activity amount determination unit 107.

In this embodiment, the storage unit 101 is realized by the non-volatile memory 12 shown in FIG. 2 or another storage device.

In addition, in this embodiment, some or all of the task acquisition unit 102, task allocation unit 103, task completion determination unit 104, motivation coefficient update unit 105, skill level update unit 106, and activity amount determination unit 107 are realized by, for example, having the CPU 11 (i.e., the computer of the community revitalization device 10) shown in FIG. 2 execute a predetermined program, that is, by software. Note that this program can be distributed by being stored in advance in a computer-readable storage medium, or it can be downloaded to the community revitalization device 10 via a network, for example.

In this embodiment, each of the units 102 to 107 may be a functional unit that operates as part of the source code management tool described above, or may be a functional unit that operates separately from the source code realization tool.

Here, some or all of the units 102 to 107 have been described as being realized by software, but some or all of the units 102 to 107 may also be realized by hardware, for example, or by a combination of software and hardware.

The storage unit 101 corresponds to a database (DB), and in addition to source code managed by a source code management tool, for example, information about the community (hereinafter referred to as community information) is stored in the storage unit 101. The community information stored in the storage unit 101 includes, for example, user information (engineer data) indicating each of a number of users participating in the community. The user information includes the technical level (technical skill level) of the user indicated by the user information and a motivation coefficient indicating the user's motivation (degree of motivation), etc., as will be described in detail later.

When multiple communities are managed in the source code management tool, the storage unit 101 stores community information for each community.

The task acquisition unit 102 acquires task information indicating a task to be requested of a community. Note that the task indicated by the task information acquired by the task acquisition unit 102 is created in response to a user's operation on the user terminal 20, and the task information includes the difficulty level of the task specified by the user. The user who creates the task may be a user who participates in the community to which the task is requested, or may be a user who does not participate in the community.

For the sake of convenience, in the following explanation, a task requested by a specific user will be referred to as a target task, and the community to which the target task is requested will be referred to as a target community.

The task allocation unit 103 determines a user (hereinafter referred to as the assigned user) to whom the target task is to be assigned from among multiple users participating in the target community, and assigns the target task to the assigned user. The assigned user is determined based on the motivation coefficient included in the user information stored in the storage unit 101 after comparing the technical level included in the user information and the difficulty included in the task information stored in the storage unit 101. When the target task is assigned to the assigned user, task information indicating the target task is stored in the storage unit 101.

The task completion determination unit 104 determines whether the assigned user has completed the target task assigned to the assigned user by the task allocation unit 103.

The motivation coefficient update unit 105 updates the motivation coefficient included in the user information indicating the responsible user based on the judgment result by the task completion judgment unit 104 so as to improve the motivation of the responsible user.

The skill level update unit 106 updates the skill level included in the user information representing the user in charge based on the number of tasks the user has completed in the past (the cumulative number of tasks completed). Note that the cumulative number of tasks completed is assumed to be managed in the user information.

The activity amount determination unit 107 determines, for example, whether or not a user who participates in a target community is regularly active in the target community. The activity amount determination unit 107 updates the motivation coefficient included in the above-mentioned user information based on the determination result by the activity amount determination unit 107.

Next, an example of a processing procedure of the community revitalization device 10 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 5. Here, the processing procedure when the community revitalization device 10 assigns a task to a user participating in a target community will be described.

First, when a specific user (hereinafter, referred to as the requesting user) requests a target task from a target community, the requesting user can create the target task by operating the user terminal 20. The task acquisition unit 102 acquires task information indicating the target task thus created by the requesting user from the user terminal 20 (step S1).

Here, FIG. 6 shows an example of a screen (hereinafter referred to as a task creation screen) that is displayed on the user terminal 20 when the requesting user creates a target task.

As shown in FIG. 6, the task creation screen 200 has a title specification field 201, a text specification field 202, a difficulty specification field 203, and a deadline specification field 204.

The title specification field 201 is a field (area) where the title (summary) of the target task can be specified. The main text specification field 202 is a field (area) where the main text (details) of the target task can be specified. The difficulty specification field 203 is a field (area) where the difficulty of the target task can be specified. The deadline specification field 204 is a field (area) where the deadline of the target task (the deadline for completing the target task) can be specified.

The requesting user can create the target task by specifying (inputting) the title, text, difficulty level, and deadline in each of the fields 201 to 204 on the task creation screen 200 described above, and then pressing the "Create" button on the task creation screen 200.

Figure 7 shows an example of the data structure of the task information acquired in step S1 shown in Figure 5. As shown in Figure 7, the task information includes a title, a text, a difficulty level, a deadline, a person in charge, and a status, which are associated with each other.

The title, text, difficulty level, and deadline are as explained in the task creation screen 200 described above, so detailed explanations will be omitted here. In the example shown in FIG. 7, the title is "aaa", the text is "bbb", the difficulty level is "03", and the deadline is "2021.cc.cc".

In this embodiment, the difficulty level is assumed to be expressed as a 10-level numerical value (e.g., 01 to 10), but it may also be expressed in other formats, such as "easy," "medium," and "difficult." Additionally, the deadline is expressed as a date, but it may also be expressed in a format that includes the time.

The person in charge indicates the user (the user ID for identifying the user) to whom the target task is assigned. Note that the person in charge field is blank when the target task is created (i.e., when it is obtained in step S1 shown in FIG. 5).

The status indicates whether the target task has been completed or not. Note that the status is "Incomplete" when the target task is created. Furthermore, the status is updated (changed) from "Incomplete" to "Completed" when the target task is completed.

Returning to FIG. 5, the task allocation unit 103 executes a process (hereinafter referred to as an allocation process) of assigning the target task to a responsible user determined from among multiple users participating in the target community based on the task information acquired in step S1 and the user information stored in the storage unit 101 (step S2).

Here, FIG. 8 shows an example of the data structure of the user information stored in the storage unit 101. As shown in FIG. 8, the user information includes a user ID (engineer ID), a skill level, a motivation coefficient, a cumulative number of tasks handled, and a previous activity date, which are associated with each other.

The user ID is identification information used to identify the user (the engineer developing the software product) indicated by the user information.

The technical level is the technical level of the user (user identified by the user ID) indicated by the user information. The technical level is expressed, for example, as "Novice" indicating a novice technician, "Middle" indicating an intermediate technician, and "High" indicating a senior technician, but may also be expressed, for example, as a numerical value.

The motivation coefficient is a numerical value that indicates the motivation (degree) of the user indicated by the user information (the user identified by the user ID).

The cumulative number of tasks handled is the number of tasks that the user indicated by the user information (the user identified by the user ID) has completed (handled) in the past.

The last activity date is the date when the user indicated by the user information (the user identified by the user ID) was last active in the community (i.e., was last active). The last activity date is updated, for example, when the user creates a task (MR or Issue, etc.) or when the user completes a task. Also, for example, a user participating in a target community can post a comment in the target community, and the last activity date may be updated when the comment is posted. The last activity date is information that includes the year, month, and date, but may also be information that includes the time.

In the example shown in FIG. 8, the storage unit 101 stores multiple pieces of user information including user information 101a to 101c. Note that the user information 101a to 101c is user information indicating users who are participating in the target community (i.e., user information included in the community information related to the target community).

User information 101a includes a user ID "001", a technical level "High", a motivation coefficient "80", a cumulative number of tasks handled "50", and a previous activity date "2020.xx.xx", all of which are associated with each other. This user information 101a indicates that the technical level of the user identified by the user ID is "High (i.e., the user is a senior engineer)" and that the motivation coefficient representing the user's motivation is "80". Furthermore, user information 101a indicates that the number of tasks that the user identified by the user ID has handled in the past in the target community is "50", and that the user's previous activity date in the target community was "xx month xx day 2020".

Here, we have explained user information 101a, but the same applies to other user information including user information 101b and 101c.

Note that while FIG. 8 shows user information indicating multiple users participating in the target community, if a community other than the target community has been created, the storage unit 101 stores user information indicating multiple users participating in the other community in addition to the user information shown in FIG. 8.

That is, the user information shown in FIG. 8 is information about the user's activities in the target community, and some or all of the skill level, motivation coefficient, cumulative number of completed tasks, and previous activity date included in the user information are based on the activities in the target community. Also, for example, if the same user participates in multiple communities, the user information indicating the user (including the skill level, motivation coefficient, cumulative number of completed tasks, and previous activity date) differs for each of the communities. In other words, the user information is managed for each community in which the user indicated by the user information is active (participates).

Returning to FIG. 5 again, in step S2, a plurality of pieces of user information, including a skill level corresponding to the difficulty level included in the task information, are acquired from the storage unit 101, and a user in charge is selected from among the plurality of users indicated by the plurality of pieces of user information. Details of the assignment process will be described later.

When the processing of step S2 is executed, the task completion determination unit 104 executes a process (hereinafter referred to as a task completion determination process) to determine whether or not the target task assigned to the responsible user has been completed by executing the processing of step S2 (step S3).

The task completion determination process in step S3 is executed based on the status included in the task information indicating the target task. Also, in step S3, an adjustment value is set that is used when updating the motivation coefficient representing the motivation of the responsible user (i.e., the motivation coefficient included in the user information indicating the responsible user) depending on whether the target task is completed within the deadline included in the task information indicating the target task. Furthermore, if it is determined in step S3 that the target task is completed, the cumulative number of tasks handled included in the user information indicating the responsible user is updated. The task completion determination process will be described in detail later.

When the process of step S3 is executed, the motivation coefficient update unit 105 executes a process (hereinafter referred to as the motivation coefficient update process) to update the motivation coefficient representing the motivation of the responsible user (hereinafter referred to simply as the motivation coefficient of the responsible user) (step S4).

In step S4, the motivation coefficient according to the difficulty level included in the task information indicating the target task and the skill level included in the user information indicating the responsible user is adjusted using the adjustment value described above, and the adjusted motivation coefficient is added to the motivation coefficient of the responsible user to calculate the updated motivation coefficient. Details of the motivation coefficient update process will be described later.

When the process of step S4 is executed, the skill level update unit 106 executes a process (hereinafter referred to as the skill level update process) to update the skill level of the responsible user (the skill level included in the user information indicating the responsible user) based on the cumulative number of tasks handled included in the user information indicating the responsible user (step S5).

In step S5, the skill level of the responsible user may be updated, for example, based on the activity level of the responsible user in other communities. Details of the skill level update process will be described later.

When the process shown in Figure 5 above is executed, the target task requested by the requesting user can be assigned to an appropriate user, and the motivation (coefficient) and skill level of the user in charge of the target task can be automatically updated.

Next, the above-mentioned allocation process (the process of step S2 shown in FIG. 5) will be described in detail. This allocation process is executed by the task allocation unit 103, but first, an example of the configuration of the task allocation unit 103 will be described with reference to FIG. 9.

As shown in FIG. 9, the task allocation unit 103 includes a difficulty acquisition unit 103a, a query transmission unit 103b, a user information acquisition unit 103c, and a responsible user determination unit 103d.

The difficulty level acquisition unit 103a acquires the task information acquired by the task acquisition unit 102 described above. The difficulty level acquisition unit 103a acquires the difficulty level contained in the acquired task information from the acquired task information. The difficulty level acquisition unit 103a instructs the query transmission unit 103b to acquire user information based on the acquired difficulty level.

The query sending unit 103b sends a query to the storage unit 101 (database) to acquire user information based on instructions from the difficulty acquisition unit 103a.

In this case, the user information acquisition unit 103c acquires user information corresponding to the query sent by the query sending unit 103b from the storage unit 101. Note that the user information acquisition unit 103c acquires, for example, multiple pieces of user information.

Although this may be omitted in the following description, in this embodiment, the various pieces of information stored in the storage unit 101 are acquired by sending a query to the storage unit 101 to acquire the information.

The assigned user determination unit 103d determines a assigned user from among a plurality of first users indicated by a plurality of pieces of user information acquired by the user information acquisition unit 103c. The assigned user is determined based on a motivation coefficient included in each of the plurality of pieces of user information acquired by the user information acquisition unit 103c.

The assigned user determination unit 103d notifies the determined assigned user (the user terminal 20 used by the user) of the target task (i.e., that the target task has been assigned).

In addition, when a responsible user is determined by the responsible user determination unit 103d, task information (task information indicating the target task) to which a user ID for identifying the responsible user has been added is stored (registered) in the storage unit 101.

Next, an example of the allocation process will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 10.

When task information is acquired in step S1 shown in FIG. 5 above, the difficulty acquisition unit 103a included in the task allocation unit 103 acquires the task information from the task acquisition unit 102 and acquires the difficulty level included in the task information (step S11).

When the process of step S11 is executed, the difficulty level acquisition unit 103a identifies a skill level corresponding to the difficulty level acquired in step S11 (step S12). In this case, the task assignment unit 103 (or the difficulty level acquisition unit 103a) holds in advance an ideal line (information) that indicates an appropriate correspondence between the difficulty level of a task and the skill level of a user to which the task should be assigned, and the difficulty level acquisition unit 103a can identify the skill level corresponding to the acquired difficulty level by referring to the ideal line.

Next, the query sending unit 103b sends a query to the storage unit 101 based on the instruction from the difficulty level acquiring unit 103a (step S13). In this case, the query sending unit 103b sends a query to acquire user information including the skill level identified in step S12.

When the process of step S13 is executed, multiple pieces of user information corresponding to the query sent in step S13 (multiple pieces of user information including the skill level identified in step S12) are returned from the storage unit 101, and the user information acquisition unit 103c acquires the multiple pieces of user information (step S14).

Next, the responsible user determination unit 103d obtains a motivation coefficient from each of the multiple pieces of user information obtained in step S14 (step S15).

Here, let S be the set of users indicated by each of the multiple pieces of user information acquired in step S14. In this case, the responsible user determination unit 103d extracts (identifies) from the set of users S a set of users S' whose motivation coefficients are equal to or greater than a threshold value (a predetermined value) based on the motivation coefficients acquired in step S15 (step S16). Note that the set of users S' corresponds to the set of users indicated by user information including a motivation coefficient equal to or greater than the threshold value, among the multiple pieces of user information acquired in step S14.

When the process of step S16 is executed, the responsible user determination unit 103d determines the user with the lowest motivation coefficient among the set of users S' (i.e., the user indicated by the user information including the lowest motivation coefficient) as the responsible user (step S17).

Here, it has been described that the user with the lowest motivation coefficient among the set of users S' is determined as the responsible user, but in this embodiment, it is sufficient that, for example, a user with a relatively low motivation coefficient is determined as the responsible user. Specifically, it may be possible to determine the responsible user from among the users with low motivation coefficients among the set of users S' based on information other than the motivation coefficient. In this case,
For example, a configuration may be adopted in which a user in the user set S' who has a low motivation coefficient and whose user information includes the oldest previous activity date is determined to be the responsible user.

When the responsible user is determined in step S17, the target task is assigned to the responsible user and the responsible user is notified (step S18). The notification of the target task may be made via a source code management tool used in the user terminal 20 used by the responsible user, or may be made by sending an email or the like to the responsible user.

Although not shown in FIG. 10, when a target task is assigned to a user in charge, task information including a user ID for identifying the user in charge as the person in charge is stored in the storage unit 101.

Note that FIG. 11 shows the relationship between skill level, difficulty (task difficulty), and motivation coefficient in the above-mentioned allocation process in a three-dimensional space. In the above-mentioned allocation process, among users who have a skill level corresponding to the difficulty (difficulty of the target task) included in the task information (i.e., users who are close to the ideal line corresponding to that difficulty) and who have a motivation coefficient equal to or greater than a threshold, the user with the lowest motivation coefficient is determined to be the assigned user.

Now, referring to FIG. 12, the types of tasks assigned to users will be described. In this embodiment, tasks with low difficulty are considered to be "beginner-oriented" tasks and are therefore assigned to beginner engineers (users with a low technical level), but such tasks can also be considered to be "instructional" tasks. In this embodiment, tasks with low difficulty are not directly assigned to advanced engineers (users with a high technical level), but the advanced engineers can work on the tasks together with the beginner engineers from the perspective of instructing the beginner engineers (the beginner engineers request instruction). Task information indicating such tasks includes, for example, a user ID for identifying the beginner engineer as the person in charge, and a user ID for identifying the advanced engineer as the co-person in charge.

Furthermore, tasks with a high level of difficulty are considered to be "for advanced users" and are therefore assigned to advanced engineers, but such tasks can also be considered to be "for beginners to level up." Highly difficult tasks are not directly assigned to beginner engineers, but beginner engineers can work on the task together with the advanced engineers, from the perspective of supporting the advanced engineers (the advanced engineers request assistance). Task information indicating such a task includes, for example, a user ID for identifying the advanced engineer as the person in charge, and a user ID for identifying the beginner engineer as the co-person in charge.

In the following description, the tasks that the senior and junior engineers work on together are referred to as joint tasks for convenience. The co-in-charge may be designated by the person in charge, but may also be automatically determined by other methods. For convenience of explanation, the case where a senior and junior engineer work on a task together has been described, but it is also possible for a user with a medium technical level to work on a task together with a senior or junior engineer, or users with medium technical levels may work on a task together.

A specific example of the above-mentioned allocation process will be described below. First, FIG. 13 shows an example of a task creation screen 200 in which the title, text, difficulty level, and deadline are specified (input) by the requesting user, and FIG. 14 shows a specific example of task information indicating the target task created when the "Create" button 205 is pressed on the task creation screen 200 shown in FIG. 13. It is also assumed here that the user information 101a to 101c shown in FIG. 8 is stored in the storage unit 101.

In this case, assuming that the above-mentioned allocation process has been executed, the difficulty level included in the task information is "01 (i.e., easy)," so based on the ideal straight line shown in FIG. 11, the user indicated by user ID "003" whose skill level is "novice" is selected from among the multiple users indicated by user information 101a to 101c shown in FIG. 8 as the user in charge.

As a result, the target task indicated by the task information shown in FIG. 14 is assigned to the user identified by the user ID "003."

In this case, the task information shown in FIG. 15 obtained by adding user ID "003" as the person in charge included in the task information shown in FIG. 14 described above is stored in the storage unit 101. Note that the task information shown in FIG. 15 (i.e., the target task) is notified to the user identified by user ID "003", and the user can refer to (check) the title, text, deadline, etc. included in the task information to deal with the target task.

Next, the above-mentioned task completion determination process (the process of step S3 shown in FIG. 5) will be described in detail. This task completion determination process is executed by the task completion determination unit 104, and first, an example of the configuration of the task completion determination unit 104 will be described with reference to FIG. 16.

As shown in FIG. 16, the task completion determination unit 104 includes a deadline acquisition unit 104a, a date acquisition unit 104b, a determination unit 104c, an adjustment value setting unit 104d, and a motivation coefficient deduction unit 104e.

The deadline acquisition unit 104a acquires task information stored in the storage unit 101 and acquires the deadline contained in the task information.

The date acquisition unit 104b acquires the current date, for example, from an OS running on the community revitalization device 10. Note that in this embodiment, the description is given assuming that the current date is acquired, but if the deadline acquired by the deadline acquisition unit 104a described above includes a time, the date acquisition unit 104b may acquire the current time in addition to the current date.

The determination unit 104c determines whether the current date acquired by the date acquisition unit 104b exceeds the deadline acquired by the deadline acquisition unit 104a. The determination unit 104c also determines whether the target task indicated by the task information acquired by the deadline acquisition unit 104a has been completed.

The adjustment value setting unit 104d sets an adjustment value based on the result of the judgment by the judgment unit 104c. The adjustment value set by the adjustment value setting unit 104d is passed to the motivation coefficient update unit 105, as it is used to update (calculate) the motivation coefficient by the motivation coefficient update unit 105, which will be described later.

The motivation coefficient deduction unit 104e deducts the motivation coefficient of the user assigned to the target task indicated by the task information acquired by the date acquisition unit 104b, based on the result of the judgment by the judgment unit 104c. The motivation coefficient thus deducted is reflected in the user information stored in the storage unit 101, and the user information (the motivation coefficient included therein) is updated.

Next, an example of the processing procedure for determining task completion will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 17.

First, the deadline acquisition unit 104a acquires from the storage unit 101 the task information stored in the storage unit 101 as a result of the execution of the above-mentioned allocation process, and acquires the deadline included in the task information (step S21). In addition, the date acquisition unit 104b acquires the current date (step S22).

Next, the determination unit 104c compares the deadline acquired in step S21 with the current date acquired in step S22. As a result, the determination unit 104c determines whether the current date has exceeded the deadline (step S23).

If it is determined that the current date has not exceeded the deadline (NO in step S23), the determination unit 104c determines whether the target task indicated by the task information acquired in step S21 has been completed (step S24).

Here, as described above, when the task information is stored in the storage unit 101, the target task is not completed, and the status included in the task information is "incomplete". However, when the target task is completed, the user who requested the target task (requesting user) can perform an operation on the user terminal 20 to register that the target task has been completed. When such an operation is performed by the requesting user, the status included in the task information is updated from "incomplete" to "completed". In addition, in order to determine whether the responsible user contributed to the corresponding task, the determination unit 104c may check the response record of the responsible user for the corresponding task (comments and commits posted when responding to the task, etc.) and then update the status included in the task information from "incomplete" to "completed".

That is, the process of step S24 described above is executed by referring to the status included in the task information acquired in step S21.

Note that, although the operation to register that the target task has been completed has been described as being performed by the requesting user, this operation may also be performed, for example, by a user with authority other than the requesting user.

If it is determined that the target task has been completed (i.e., the status included in the task information is "completed") (YES in step S24), the adjustment value setting unit 104d sets the adjustment value used when updating the motivation coefficient to 1 (step S25).

When the process of step S25 is executed, user information indicating the responsible user (user information including the user ID included as the person in charge in the task information) is obtained, and the cumulative number of tasks handled included in the user information is incremented by 1. This updates the cumulative number of tasks handled by the responsible user (step S26).

On the other hand, if it is determined that the task has not been completed (i.e., the status included in the target task information is "uncompleted") (NO in step S24), the process returns to step S22 and is repeated.

If it is determined that the current date has passed the deadline (YES in step S23), the determination unit 104c determines whether the target task has been completed (step S27). Note that the process of step S27 is similar to the process of step S24 described above, and therefore a detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

If it is determined that the target task has been completed (YES in step S27), the adjustment value setting unit 104d sets the adjustment value to 1/2 (step S28). When the process of step S28 is executed, the process of step S26 described above is executed.

On the other hand, if it is determined that the target task has not been completed (NO in step S27), the judgment unit 104c judges whether the difference between the deadline acquired in step S21 and the current date acquired in step S22 is equal to or greater than a threshold value (i.e., the deadline has been exceeded by a predetermined period of time) (step S29).

If it is determined that the difference between the deadline and the current date is equal to or greater than the threshold (YES in step S29), the motivation coefficient deduction unit 104e deducts the motivation coefficient of the responsible user (the motivation coefficient included in the user information indicating the responsible user) (step S30). Note that in step S30, for example, a predetermined value (constant) may be subtracted from the motivation coefficient of the responsible user, or a value obtained from a motivation coefficient table described below may be subtracted.

When the process of step S30 is executed, the motivation coefficient included in the user information indicating the responsible user stored in the storage unit 101 is updated to the motivation coefficient deducted in step S30.

If it is determined in step S29 that the difference between the deadline and the current date is not equal to or greater than the threshold (NO in step S29) or if the processing of step S30 has been executed, the process returns to step S22 and is repeated. Note that according to the processing shown in FIG. 17, if the task is not completed even after a long period of time has passed since the deadline, the processing of step S30 may be executed repeatedly, but the number of times that the processing of step S30 is executed may be limited. In other words, if the processing of step S30 is executed repeatedly, there is a possibility that the motivation coefficient of the user in charge will drop significantly, so the processing of step S30 may be configured to be executed only once, for example.

According to the process shown in FIG. 17, if the user in charge does not respond to the target task and leaves it unattended, the motivation coefficient of the user in charge is deducted. Also, if the user in charge cannot meet the deadline but is responding to the target task (i.e., is currently working on it), the motivation coefficient of the user in charge remains the same. Furthermore, if the user in charge completes the task despite exceeding the deadline, the motivation coefficient of the user in charge is slightly increased (adjustment value is set to 1/2). Note that if the user in charge completes the task within the deadline, the motivation coefficient of the user in charge is increased (adjustment value is set to 1).

In other words, in the task completion determination process in this embodiment, a process is performed to adjust the motivation coefficient of the user in charge depending on the time until the target task is completed.

A specific example of the above-mentioned task completion determination process will be described below. Here, it is assumed that the user information shown in FIG. 8 and the task information shown in FIG. 15 are stored in the storage unit 101. In this case, the deadline included in the task information shown in FIG. 15 is "March 1, 2021."

Here, assume that the current date is "February 1, 2021" and the status included in the task information shown in FIG. 15 has been updated from "Incomplete" to "Completed" (i.e., the task has been completed). In this case, since the current date has not exceeded the deadline, an adjustment value of 1 is set and the user information shown in FIG. 8 is updated to the user information shown in FIG. 18. Specifically, the cumulative number of tasks handled included in the user information including the user ID "003" for identifying the responsible user is updated from "19" to "20".

On the other hand, assume that the current date is "March 10, 2021" and the status included in the task information shown in FIG. 15 is updated from "Incomplete" to "Completed." In this case, since the current date has passed the deadline, the adjustment value is set to 1/2, and the user information shown in FIG. 8 is updated to the user information shown in FIG. 18.

Furthermore, assume that the current date is "April 10, 2021" and the status included in the task information shown in FIG. 15 remains "Incomplete". In this case, if the threshold in step S29 shown in FIG. 17 is, for example, one month, since the deadline has passed by more than a predetermined period of time, the motivation coefficient of the responsible user is deducted, and the user information shown in FIG. 8 is updated to the user information shown in FIG. 19. Specifically, the motivation coefficient included in the user information including the user ID "003" for identifying the responsible user is updated from "90" to "40". Here, an example is shown in which "50", a value obtained from a motivation coefficient table described later, is subtracted from the motivation coefficient of the responsible user, but the value subtracted from the motivation coefficient may be another value.

Next, the motivation coefficient update process (the process of step S4 shown in FIG. 5) will be described in detail. This motivation coefficient update process is executed by the motivation coefficient update unit 105, and first, an example of the configuration of the motivation coefficient update unit 105 will be described with reference to FIG. 20.

As shown in FIG. 20, the motivation coefficient update unit 105 includes a difficulty level acquisition unit 105a, a user information acquisition unit 105b, a motivation coefficient table reference unit 105c, an addition unit 105d, and a determination unit 105e.

The difficulty acquisition unit 105a acquires the task information (task information indicating the target task) for which the above-mentioned task completion judgment process has been executed from the task completion judgment unit 104, and acquires the difficulty level included in the task information.

The user information acquisition unit 105a acquires user information indicating the responsible user (the user identified by the user ID included as the responsible person in the task information indicating the target task) from the storage unit 101.

The motivation coefficient table reference unit 105c holds in advance a motivation coefficient table (data) in which motivation coefficients are defined according to the difficulty of the task and the skill level of the user. FIG. 21 shows an example of a motivation coefficient table. As shown in FIG. 21, in the motivation coefficient table, a motivation coefficient is defined for each combination of the difficulty of the task and the skill level of the user.

The motivation coefficient table reference unit 105c refers to the motivation coefficient table based on the difficulty level acquired by the difficulty level acquisition unit 105a and the skill level included in the user information acquired by the user information acquisition unit 105b, and acquires a motivation coefficient corresponding to the difficulty level and skill level from the motivation coefficient table.

The motivation coefficient table reference unit 105c also obtains the above-mentioned adjustment value from the task completion determination unit 104. The motivation coefficient table reference unit 105c calculates the added value by multiplying the motivation coefficient obtained from the motivation coefficient table by the adjustment value.

The addition unit 105d adds the above-mentioned additional value to the motivation coefficient included in the user information acquired by the user information acquisition unit 105b.

As a result, the motivation coefficient included in the user information indicating the responsible user stored in the storage unit 101 is updated to a motivation coefficient to which the addition value has been added by the addition unit 105d as described above.

Here, for example, if the task information acquired by the difficulty acquisition unit 105a includes a co-personnel, the task is a task for joint response.

Therefore, the determination unit 105e determines whether the target task is a task for joint response based on whether a co-response is included in the task information indicating the target task. Furthermore, when the determination unit 105e determines that the target task is a task for joint response, it checks the response records for the task for joint response (such as comments posted when responding to the task) to determine whether each of the co-response has contributed to the community application task.

Based on the result of checking the correspondence record by the determination unit 105e, the addition unit 105d adds the above-mentioned additional value to the motivation coefficient included in the user information indicating the user (hereinafter referred to as the co-responsible user) identified by the user ID included as a co-responsible user in the task information indicating the target task.

As a result, the motivation coefficient included in the user information indicating the co-responsible user stored in the storage unit 101 is updated to a motivation coefficient to which the addition value has been added by the addition unit 105d as described above.

Next, an example of the processing procedure for the motivation coefficient update process will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 22.

First, the difficulty acquisition unit 105a acquires task information indicating the above-mentioned target task from the task completion determination unit 104, and acquires the difficulty level included in the task information (step S41). Here, it has been described that the task information is acquired from the task completion determination unit 104, but the task information may also be acquired from the storage unit 101.

Next, the user information acquisition unit 105b acquires user information including the user ID included as the person in charge in the task information indicating the target task (i.e., user information indicating the user in charge) from the storage unit 101 (step S42).

When the processing of step S42 is executed, the motivation coefficient table reference unit 105c obtains an adjustment value from the task completion determination unit 104 (step S43).

Next, the motivation coefficient table reference unit 105c refers to the motivation coefficient table to obtain the motivation coefficient defined for the combination of the difficulty level obtained in step S41 and the skill level included in the user information indicating the responsible user obtained in step S42. The motivation coefficient table reference unit 105c calculates the added value by multiplying the obtained motivation coefficient by the adjustment value (step S44).

When the process of step S44 is executed, the motivation coefficient included in the user information indicating the responsible user acquired in step S42 (i.e., the motivation coefficient of the responsible user) is updated using the added value calculated in step S44 (step S45). In step S45, the motivation coefficient included in the user information indicating the responsible user stored in the storage unit 101 is updated to a value obtained by adding the added value to the motivation coefficient.

Here, the judgment unit 105e judges whether the target task is a task for joint response (step S46). In this case, if the task information indicating the target task includes a co-responsible person (a user ID indicating the co-responsible person), the target task is judged to be a task for joint response. On the other hand, if the task information does not include a co-responsible person (a user ID indicating the co-responsible person), the target task is judged not to be a task for joint response.

If it is determined that the target task is a joint task (YES in step S46), the determination unit 105e checks the response record and determines whether the co-personnel responded appropriately to the joint task (step S47).

Here, when a user in charge responds to a joint task, the user in charge completes the joint task while exchanging comments with co-users in charge in the target community.

Therefore, for example, when a jointly-in-charge user posts a comment specifying the in-charge user using the mention function in response to a jointly-in-charge task, it is determined in step S47 that the jointly-in-charge user has responded appropriately.

In addition, for example, if a co-in-charge user replies to a comment posted by a responsible user, or if a comment posted by a co-in-charge user includes the responsible user's name or a term related to a task for joint response, it may be determined in step S47 that the co-in-charge user has responded appropriately.

Note that comments posted in the community are managed as community information in the source code management tool, and the processing of step S47 described above may be performed by analyzing such comments.

If it is determined that the co-in-charge user responded appropriately (YES in step S47), the user information acquisition unit 105b acquires user information indicating the co-in-charge user from the storage unit 101 (step S48). Note that this user information indicating the co-in-charge user is user information that includes a user ID that is included as a co-in-charge in the task information indicating the target task.

When the process of step S48 is executed, the motivation coefficient included in the user information indicating the jointly-in-charge user acquired in step S48 (i.e., the motivation coefficient of the jointly-in-charge user) is updated using the added value calculated in step S44 (step S49). In step S49, the motivation coefficient included in the user information indicating the jointly-in-charge user is updated to a value obtained by adding the added value to the motivation coefficient.

Note that if it is determined in step S46 that the target task is not a joint task (YES in step S46) or if it is determined in step S47 that the joint user has not responded appropriately (NO in step S47), the processes in steps S48 and S49 are not executed.

The above-described steps S41 to S45 in the motivation coefficient update process can improve the motivation coefficient of a user who has completed a task. Furthermore, the processes in steps S46 to S49 in the motivation coefficient update process can improve the motivation coefficient of a jointly-in-charge user only if the jointly-in-charge user has responded appropriately, making it possible to avoid improving the motivation coefficient of a jointly-in-charge user when the jointly-in-charge user has not responded appropriately.

In the process shown in FIG. 22, it may be possible to determine whether the user in charge has responded appropriately (i.e., whether only the co-user in charge has responded to the target task) based on comments posted in the above-mentioned community, and to increase the motivation coefficient of the user in charge only if the user in charge has responded appropriately.

In the motivation coefficient update process described in this embodiment, the motivation of the assigned user who completed the target task (or the task for joint handling) and the co-assigned user who responded to the task for joint handling together with the assigned user is increased, but the motivation coefficient of the user may be increased, for example, when the task is created. That is, in this embodiment, the motivation of not only the assigned user and the co-assigned user but also the user who created the task may be evaluated. In this case, the motivation coefficient of the user who created the task is updated by adding a predetermined additional value to the motivation coefficient of the user who created the task. The additional value may be a fixed value or may be a value that varies depending on the difficulty of the created task or the skill level of the user. In addition, the motivation of the user may be updated, for example, depending on the activity of the user in other communities (creation or completion of a task, etc.).

In this embodiment, since the above-mentioned allocation process automatically assigns a person in charge, a specific user cannot handle a task created by that user in order to improve motivation.

A specific example of the motivation coefficient update process described above will be described below. Here, it is assumed that the task information indicating the target task is the task information shown in FIG. 15, and the user information including the user ID "003" shown in FIG. 18 is acquired by the user information acquisition unit 105b as user information indicating the responsible user.

In this case, the difficulty level included in the task information shown in FIG. 15 is "01," and the skill level included in the user information showing the responsible user shown in FIG. 18 is "Novices."

Now, referring to the motivation coefficient table shown in FIG. 21 above, the motivation coefficient defined in the motivation coefficient table for the difficulty level "01" and the skill level "Novece" is "40."

In this case, if the adjustment value obtained from the task completion determination unit 104 is "1", the added value is 40 x 1 = 40. According to this, the motivation coefficient "90" included in the user information indicating the responsible user is updated to 90 + 40 = 130, as shown in FIG. 23.

On the other hand, if the adjustment value obtained from the task completion determination unit 104 is "1/2", the added value is 40 x 1/2 = 20. According to this, the motivation coefficient "90" included in the user information indicating the responsible user is updated to 90 + 20 = 110, as shown in FIG. 24.

Next, the above-mentioned technical level update process (the process of step S5 shown in FIG. 5) will be described in detail. This technical level coefficient update process is executed by the technical level update unit 106, but first, an example of the configuration of the technical level update unit 106 will be described with reference to FIG. 25.

As shown in FIG. 25, the technical level update unit 106 includes a first correspondence number acquisition unit 106a, a second correspondence number acquisition unit 106b, and a technical level determination table reference unit 106c.

The first correspondence number acquisition unit 106a acquires user information indicating the responsible user from the storage unit 101, and acquires the cumulative number of tasks handled contained in the user information.

Here, as described above, user information is managed for each community in which a user is active, but the user information acquired by the first correspondence number acquisition unit 106a is user information based on the activities of the user in charge in the community to which the target task has been requested (i.e., user information included in the community information related to the target community).

When the above-mentioned responsible user is active in another community, the second response number acquisition unit 106b acquires user information based on the responsible user's activities in the other community (i.e., user information included in community information related to the other community) from the storage unit 101, and acquires the cumulative number of tasks handled included in the user information. The cumulative number of tasks handled acquired by the second response number acquisition unit 106b is the number of tasks that the responsible user has previously completed in the other community.

The skill level determination table reference unit 106c holds in advance a skill level determination table (data) in which skill levels are defined according to the cumulative number of tasks handled in the target community and the cumulative number of tasks handled in other communities. FIG. 26 shows an example of the skill level determination table. As shown in FIG. 26, in the skill level determination table, a skill level is defined for each combination of the cumulative number of tasks handled in the target community and the cumulative number of tasks handled in other communities.

In the example shown in FIG. 26, for example, if the cumulative number of tasks handled in the target community is 0 or more and less than 10, and the cumulative number of tasks handled in the other communities is 0 or more and less than 10, the skill level is defined as "Novice." Also, for example, if the cumulative number of tasks handled in the target community is 0 or more and less than 10, and the cumulative number of tasks handled in the other communities is 10 or more and less than 20, the skill level is defined as "Middle." The same applies to combinations of cumulative task numbers other than those described here.

The technical level determination table reference unit 106c refers to the technical level determination table based on the cumulative task response count (cumulative task response count in the target community) acquired by the first response count acquisition unit 106a and the cumulative task response count (cumulative number of responses in other communities) acquired by the second response count acquisition unit 106b, and acquires a technical level corresponding to the cumulative task response count from the technical level determination table.

The skill level determination table reference unit 106c updates the skill level included in the user information indicating the responsible user stored in the storage unit 101 (i.e., the skill level of the responsible person) to the skill level obtained from the skill level determination table.

Next, an example of the processing procedure for the skill level update process will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 27.

First, the first corresponding number acquisition unit 106a acquires user information indicating the responsible user (user information including the user ID included as the responsible person in the task information indicating the target task) from the storage unit 101 (step S51). This user information is, for example, user information indicating the responsible user among multiple pieces of user information included in the community information related to the target community, and is acquired based on, for example, identification information for identifying the target community and a user ID for identifying the responsible user. In the following description, the user information acquired in step S51 is referred to as user information of the target community.

When the processing of step S51 is executed, the first correspondence number acquisition unit 106a acquires the cumulative number of tasks handled (the cumulative number of tasks handled in the target community) included in the user information of the target community (step S52).

Next, the second correspondence number acquisition unit 106b acquires user information related to the activities of the responsible user in the other community (hereinafter referred to as user information of the other community) from the storage unit 101 (step S53). This user information of the other community is user information indicating the responsible user among the multiple pieces of user information included in the community information related to the other community, and is acquired based on, for example, identification information for identifying the other community and a user ID for identifying the responsible user.

When the process of step S53 is executed, the second correspondence number acquisition unit 106b acquires the cumulative number of tasks handled (the cumulative number of tasks handled in other communities) contained in the user information of the other communities (step S54).

Next, the skill level determination table reference unit 106c obtains the skill level defined for the combination of the cumulative number of tasks handled in the target community and the cumulative number of tasks handled in other communities (step S55).

When the processing of step S55 is executed, the skill level included in the user information of the target community stored in the storage unit 101 is updated to the skill level obtained in step S55 (step S56).

In the above-mentioned skill level update process, the skill level included in the user information of the target community (i.e., the skill level of the user in charge in the target community) is updated based on the cumulative number of tasks completed in the target community and the cumulative number of tasks completed in other communities. However, when updating the skill level, for example, the motivation coefficient included in the user information of the target community and the user information of the other communities may also be taken into consideration.

A specific example of the above-mentioned skill level update process will be described below. Here, it is assumed that the user information of the target community is user information including the user ID "003" shown in FIG. 23. In this case, the cumulative number of tasks handled included in the user information of the target community (i.e., the cumulative number of tasks handled in the target community) is "20."

Also, assume that the cumulative number of tasks completed included in the user information of other communities (i.e., the cumulative number of tasks completed in other communities) is, for example, "5."

Now, referring to the skill level determination table shown in FIG. 26, the skill level defined in the skill level determination table in correspondence with the cumulative number of tasks handled in the target community of "20" and the cumulative number of tasks handled in other communities of "5" is "Middle."

In this case, the skill level "Novece" included in the user information for the target community will be updated to "Middle."

In the present embodiment, the skill level update process has been described as updating the skill level of the responsible user. However, when the responsible user and the jointly-responsible user respond to the above-mentioned jointly-responsible task, the cumulative number of tasks handled by the jointly-responsible user (the cumulative number of tasks handled included in the user information indicating the jointly-responsible user) may be updated in the task completion determination process. In this case, a skill level update process can be executed to update the skill level of the jointly-responsible user.

In addition, in the skill level update process of this embodiment, the skill level is described as being updated based on the cumulative number of tasks completed in the target community and the cumulative number of tasks completed in other communities, but the skill level may be updated, for example, based only on the cumulative number of tasks completed in the target community.

Next, the activity amount determination unit 107 included in the community revitalization device 10 shown in FIG. 4 will be described in detail.

Figure 28 shows an example of the configuration of the activity amount determination unit 107. As shown in Figure 28, the activity amount determination unit 107 includes a user information acquisition unit 107a, a date acquisition unit 107b, a determination unit 107c, a motivation coefficient deduction unit 107d, and a notification unit 107e.

The user information acquisition unit 107a acquires user information from the storage unit 101. The date acquisition unit 107b acquires the current date.

The determination unit 107c compares the previous activity date included in the user information acquired by the user information acquisition unit 107a with the current date acquired by the date acquisition unit 107b, and determines whether the interval between the previous activity date and the current date is equal to or greater than a predetermined period (threshold).

The motivation coefficient deducting unit 107d deducts (i.e., lowers) the motivation coefficient included in the user information acquired by the user information acquiring unit 107a based on the judgment result by the judging unit 107c. The motivation coefficient thus deducted is reflected in the user information stored in the storage unit 101, and the user information (the motivation coefficient included in the user information) is updated.

When the motivation coefficient deducted by the motivation coefficient deducting unit 107d is less than a predetermined value (threshold value), the notification unit 107e notifies the user indicated by the user information acquired by the user information acquiring unit 107a of the decrease in the motivation coefficient.

Next, an example of the processing procedure of the activity amount determination unit 107 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 29.

For convenience, one piece of user information (hereinafter referred to as target user information) will be described here, but the process shown in FIG. 29 is executed for all user information stored in the storage unit 101 by periodically scanning the storage unit 101 (DB). In other words, the process shown in FIG. 29 is executed independently of the processes shown in FIG. 5 above (assignment process, task completion determination process, motivation coefficient update process, and skill level update process).

First, the user information acquisition unit 107a acquires target user information from the storage unit 101 (step S61).

Next, the user information acquisition unit 107a acquires the previous activity date included in the target user information acquired in step S61 (step S62).

When the process of step S62 is executed, the date acquisition unit 107b acquires the current date from the OS or the like running on the community revitalization device 10 (step S63).

Here, the determination unit 107c calculates the interval from the previous activity date to the present by comparing the previous activity date obtained in step S62 with the current date obtained in step S63. The determination unit 107c determines whether the calculated interval is equal to or greater than a threshold value (a predetermined period) (step S64). In other words, in step S64, it is determined whether a predetermined period has passed since the previous activity date.

If it is determined that the interval is equal to or greater than the threshold (YES in step S64), the motivation coefficient deducting unit 107d deducts the motivation coefficient included in the target user information acquired in step S61 (step S65). Note that in step S65, it is assumed that a process is executed to subtract a fixed value from the motivation coefficient included in the target user information, for example, but a value corresponding to the skill level included in the target user information may also be subtracted. The value to be subtracted from the motivation coefficient may also be calculated using other information (for example, the interval from the last activity date to the present, etc.).

When the process of step S65 is executed, the motivation coefficient included in the target user stored in the storage unit 101 is updated to the motivation coefficient that was deducted in step S65.

Next, the notification unit 107e determines whether the motivation coefficient deducted in step S65 is less than a threshold value (a predetermined value) (step S66).

If it is determined that the motivation coefficient is less than the threshold value (YES in step S66), the notification unit 107e notifies (warns) the user indicated by the target user information (i.e., the user identified by the user ID included in the target user information) that the motivation coefficient is less than the threshold value and that the motivation coefficient is decreasing (step S67). The notification in step S67 may be performed via a source code management tool or by sending an email or the like. When the process of step S67 is executed, for example, a message indicating that the motivation coefficient is decreasing is displayed on the user terminal 20.

If it is determined in step S64 that the interval is not equal to or greater than the threshold (NO in step S64), the processes in steps S65 and after are not executed, and the process shown in FIG. 29 is terminated. In other words, in this case, the motivation coefficient included in the target user information is not deducted.

If it is determined in step S66 that the motivation coefficient is not less than the threshold value (NO in step S66), the process of step S67 is not executed, and the process shown in FIG. 29 is terminated. In other words, in this case, even if the motivation coefficient included in the target user information is deducted, no notification is given to the user indicated by the target user information.

Note that the process shown in FIG. 29 is executed periodically, so if a user whose motivation coefficient has been deducted does not become active in the community (i.e., update the date of their last activity) before the process is executed again, their motivation coefficient will be deducted again. In other words, the longer a period of inactivity in the community is, the lower the motivation coefficient will be.

In addition, in the process shown in FIG. 29, the motivation coefficient of a user who has not been active for a predetermined period of time is deducted, but for example, for a user who is frequently active (i.e., a user who has been active for a short period of time from their last activity date to the present), the motivation coefficient may be increased (improved).

A specific example of the processing of the activity amount determination unit 107 described above will be described below. In this example, it is assumed that the user information including the user ID "001" shown in FIG. 8 is the target user information.

In this case, the previous activity date included in the target user information is "2020.xx.xx", and the interval between this and the current date is equal to or greater than a predetermined period of time.

According to this, the motivation coefficient "80" included in the target user information is deducted, for example, as shown in FIG. 30. In the example shown in FIG. 30, "50" is subtracted from the motivation coefficient "80" included in the target user information, resulting in the motivation coefficient being "30."

If the motivation coefficient "30" after this deduction is less than the threshold value, the user identified by the user ID "001" included in the target user information is notified of the decrease in the motivation coefficient (motivation represented by the motivation coefficient).

Here, FIG. 31 shows an example of a screen (hereinafter, referred to as a notification screen) that is displayed on the user terminal 20 when a decrease in the motivation coefficient is notified. Note that the notification screen shown in FIG. 31 displays a message to notify (warn) that the motivation coefficient is decreasing.

The message shown in FIG. 31 is an example, but the message can be created based on user information (motivation factor, skill level, etc.) indicating the user who is notified of the decrease in motivation factor.

The notification screen shown in FIG. 31 displays a message to notify the user indicated by the target user information (the user identified by the user ID "001") of a decline in motivation, and the message notifies the user that the motivation coefficient has declined, that the motivation coefficient is "30," and that the motivation coefficient can be improved by providing guidance to junior engineers in, for example, collaborative tasks.

The content displayed on the notification screen is not limited to a message, but may be anything that notifies (warns) the user that their motivation coefficient is decreasing.

As described above, in this embodiment, when a requesting user (second user) requests a target task from a target community, task information including the difficulty of the target task is acquired, and multiple pieces of user information including a skill level corresponding to the difficulty included in the acquired task information are acquired. The target task is assigned to a responsible user (first user) determined from the multiple users indicated by the multiple pieces of user information based on the motivation coefficients included in the multiple pieces of user information acquired.

In this embodiment, the above-described configuration introduces the concept of a motivation coefficient for the purpose of improving the motivation of users participating in the target community, and makes it possible to assign target tasks to appropriate users based on the motivation coefficient, thereby efficiently improving the motivation of users participating in the target community. When the motivation of users participating in the target community is improved in this way, the motivation of the entire community is also improved, making it possible to prevent users from leaving the community. Furthermore, high motivation of the entire community encourages new users to participate in the community.

If it is difficult for new users to join the community, the diversity of users participating in the community will be lost, and it will also be difficult for advanced engineers to transfer their knowledge to junior engineers. However, in this embodiment, it is expected that tasks appropriate to the technical level will be assigned, making it easier for users to participate in the community regardless of their technical level. Increasing the number of users participating in the community in this way contributes to improving the motivation of the community as a whole and can realize diversity within the community.

As described above, when a new user joins a community, it is necessary to manage user information indicating the user (such as the user's skill level and motivation coefficient), and when the user joins the community, user information such as that shown in FIG. 32 is registered in the storage unit 101. The user information shown in FIG. 32 is an example, and the skill level, motivation coefficient, etc. included in the user information may be default values or may be specified, for example, by the user newly joining the community or by an administrator of the community activation device 10. The skill level included in this user information may also be set, for example, based on the skill level in other communities.

In addition, users who join a community can acquire new skills or improve their current skills by participating in the community (contributing to the community) by responding to tasks, etc. Furthermore, with the above-mentioned source code management tool, for example, records of responses to tasks (such as comments posted when responding to the task) can be confirmed as achievements of contributions to the community.

Furthermore, for example, by having advanced engineers (users with a high technical level) participating in the target community mentor novice engineers (users with a low technical level), it is possible to pass on the technical domain to the next generation, and the advanced engineers may also be able to acquire new knowledge or advanced skills (such as educational experience).

In addition, in this embodiment, among multiple pieces of user information including a skill level corresponding to the difficulty level included in the task information, user information having a motivation coefficient equal to or greater than a predetermined value is identified, and a user indicated by the user information having a low motivation coefficient among the identified user information is determined as the user to whom the task is assigned.

In this embodiment, this configuration can raise the motivation of users participating in the target community and activate the entire target community evenly.

In addition, in this embodiment, when it is determined that the target task has been completed, the motivation coefficient is updated to improve the motivation contained in the user information indicating the responsible user.

Furthermore, if it is determined that the task has been completed within the deadline included in the task information, a first adjustment value is set, and if it is determined that the task has been completed beyond the deadline and within a predetermined period of time from the deadline, a second adjustment value smaller than the first adjustment value is set, and a value obtained by multiplying a motivation coefficient corresponding to the skill level included in the user information indicating the responsible user and the difficulty level included in the task information by the first or second adjustment value is added to the motivation coefficient included in the user information.

In addition, if it is determined that the task has not been completed and the deadline has passed by more than a predetermined period of time, the motivation coefficient included in the user information indicating the responsible user is reduced.

In this embodiment, by updating the motivation coefficient of the responsible user as described above, the motivation coefficient of the responsible user can be automatically adjusted according to the timing at which the responsible user completes the target task.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, when it is determined that the target task has been completed, the cumulative number of tasks completed (the cumulative number of tasks completed in the target community) included in the user information indicating the responsible user is updated, and the skill level included in the user information is updated based on the updated cumulative number of tasks completed.

In this embodiment, the above-described configuration allows the technical level of a responsible user to be automatically updated based on the number of tasks the responsible user has completed in the past (cumulative number of tasks handled).

In this embodiment, the skill level may be updated based on the number of tasks completed by the responsible user in other communities (the cumulative number of tasks completed in other communities).

Furthermore, in this embodiment, if it is determined that a predetermined period of time has passed since the last activity date (the date on which the user was active in the target community) included in the user information, the motivation coefficient included in the user information is decreased.

In this embodiment, this configuration makes it possible to automatically adjust the motivation coefficient of a user who is not active in the target community, based on the view that the motivation of the user is declining.

In addition, in this embodiment, if the motivation coefficient included in the user information (i.e., the motivation coefficient of a user participating in the target community) is lower than a predetermined value, a notification (warning) is issued to the user identified by the user information.

In this embodiment, by notifying (warning) the user that motivation is declining in this way, the user can be encouraged to engage in activities that will improve that motivation.

Here, the community revitalization device 10 according to the present embodiment may be configured to calculate the sum of the motivation coefficients included in each of the multiple users representing the multiple users participating in the target community as the motivation (coefficient) of the entire target community. In this case, the motivation coefficient of the entire target community is calculated, for example, by the following formula (1).

In addition, in this formula (1), n is the number of users participating in the target community, and m _k is the motivation coefficient of user k (the motivation coefficient included in the user information indicating the user k).

The motivation coefficient for the entire target community calculated using such formula (1) is presented to, for example, the administrator of the community revitalization device 10. In this way, the administrator of the community revitalization device 10 can use the presented motivation coefficient for the entire target community as an index for quantitatively measuring the activity level of the entire target community, and can understand that if the activity level of the entire target community is high, more users (engineers) can be expected to participate, and if the activity level of the entire community is low, measures to increase (improve) the activity level need to be considered.

Here, it has been explained that the motivation of the entire target community is presented to an administrator, etc., but the motivation of the entire target community may also be used for various processes executed by the community revitalization device 10 or an external device of the community revitalization device 10.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the requesting user specifies the difficulty of the target task when requesting a target task from the target community. However, the difficulty may be inferred, for example, using a first mathematical model. This first mathematical model is generated by applying various known machine learning algorithms such as a neural network or a random forest so as to output the difficulty of the target task when the content (title, text, etc.) and deadline of the target task are input. According to this, the difficulty of the target task is inferred by the first mathematical model that inputs the content and deadline of the target task included in the task information. In this case, for example, the task acquisition unit 102 holds the above-mentioned first mathematical model, and the process of inferring the difficulty of the target task using the first mathematical model is executed by the task acquisition unit 102. As a result, the task acquisition unit 102 can acquire task information including the difficulty of the target task inferred using the first mathematical model.

With this configuration, the user does not need to determine (specify) the difficulty level of the target task when creating the target task, and it is possible to prevent the difficulty level of the target task from differing (varying) depending on the user who creates the target task.

In addition, in this embodiment, a second mathematical model may be used in the allocation process. The second mathematical model is generated by applying various known machine learning algorithms such as a neural network or random forest so as to output a user (a user ID for identifying a user) to whom a target task indicated by the task information is assigned when the difficulty level included in the task information and the skill level and motivation coefficient included in the user information are input.

Here, an example of a processing procedure for allocating target tasks using the second mathematical model (allocation processing) will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 33. Note that the processing shown in FIG. 33 is executed by the task allocation unit 103 in step S2 shown in FIG. 5.

When task information is acquired in step S1 shown in FIG. 5 above, the difficulty acquisition unit 103a included in the task allocation unit 103 acquires the task information from the task acquisition unit 102 and acquires the difficulty level included in the task information (step S71).

Next, the query sending unit 103b sends the query to the storage unit 101 (step S72). In this case, the query sending unit 103b sends a query to acquire multiple pieces of user information indicating multiple users participating in the target community.

When the process of step S72 is executed, multiple pieces of user information corresponding to the query sent in step S72 are returned from the storage unit 101, and the user information acquisition unit 103c acquires the multiple pieces of user information (step S73).

Next, the responsible user determination unit 103d obtains the skill level and motivation coefficient from each of the multiple pieces of user information obtained in step S73 (step S74).

The responsible user determination unit 103d inputs the difficulty level obtained in step S71 and the skill level and motivation coefficient obtained in step S74 into the second mathematical model described above (step S75).

When the process of step S75 is executed, a user to whom the target task is to be assigned is inferred by a second mathematical model that uses as input the difficulty level acquired in step S71 and the skill level and motivation coefficient acquired in step S74, and a user ID for identifying the user is output from the second mathematical model.

The assigned user determination unit 103d acquires the user ID output from the second mathematical model as described above (step S76). As a result, the assigned user determination unit 103d assigns the target task to the user identified by the user ID acquired in step S76 (i.e., the assigned user).

When the processing of step S76 is executed, the target task is notified to the user in charge (step S77).

In this embodiment, by configuring the target task to be assigned to a user inferred using the second mathematical model as described above, it is expected that the target task will be assigned to a more appropriate user.
Note that the second mathematical model described in this embodiment is just an example, and the second mathematical model may be generated (trained) to improve the motivation of the entire community by inputting the task difficulty, the engineer's cumulative number of tasks handled, the engineer's last activity date, the engineer's technical level, and the engineer's motivation coefficient.

Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are within the scope of the invention and its equivalents as set forth in the claims, as well as the scope and gist of the invention.

10... Community revitalization device, 11... CPU, 12... Non-volatile memory, 13... Main memory, 14... Communication device, 20... User terminal, 101... Storage unit, 102... Task acquisition unit, 103... Task allocation unit, 103a... Difficulty level acquisition unit, 103b... Query transmission unit, 103c... User information acquisition unit, 103d... Assigned user determination unit, 104... Task completion determination unit, 104a... Deadline acquisition unit, 104b... Date acquisition unit, 104c... Determination unit, 104d... Adjustment value setting unit, 104e... Motivation coefficient reduction unit Points section, 105...motivation coefficient update section, 105a...difficulty level acquisition section, 105b...user information acquisition section, 105c...motivation coefficient table reference section, 105d...addition section, 105e...judgment section, 106...skill level update section, 106a...first correspondence number acquisition section, 106b...second correspondence number acquisition section, 106c...skill level judgment table reference section, 107...activity amount judgment section, 107a...user information acquisition section, 107b...date acquisition section, 107c...judgment section, 107d...motivation coefficient point deduction section, 107e...notification section.

Claims (13)

A community revitalization device that manages a community in which a plurality of first users participate,
a storage means for storing user information indicating each of the plurality of first users, the user information including a skill level of the first user and a motivation coefficient indicating the motivation of the first user;
a first acquisition means for acquiring task information including a difficulty level of a task when a second user requests the task to the community;
a second acquiring means for acquiring from the storage means a plurality of pieces of user information including a skill level corresponding to the difficulty level included in the acquired task information;
and an allocation means for assigning a task indicated by the task information to a first user determined from among a plurality of first users indicated by the plurality of pieces of user information based on a motivation coefficient included in the plurality of pieces of user information acquired. The community revitalization device according to claim 1, wherein the allocation means identifies user information whose motivation coefficient is equal to or greater than a predetermined value from among the acquired plurality of pieces of user information, and assigns the task to a first user represented by user information whose motivation coefficient is low from among the identified pieces of user information. a first determination means for determining whether the task indicated by the acquired task information has been completed;
The community revitalization device of claim 1 or 2, further comprising: a first update means for updating a motivation coefficient included in user information indicating a first user assigned to the task so as to improve the motivation of the first user when it is determined that the task has been completed. The task information further includes a deadline specified by the second user;
The first determination means is
If it is determined that the task is completed within the deadline included in the acquired task information, a first adjustment value is set;
If it is determined that the task has been completed beyond the deadline included in the acquired task information, a second adjustment value that is smaller than the first adjustment value is set;
The community revitalization device of claim 3, wherein the first update means adds a value obtained by multiplying a motivation coefficient corresponding to a skill level included in user information indicating a first user to whom the task is assigned and a difficulty level included in the acquired task information by the set first or second adjustment value to a motivation coefficient included in user information indicating the first user. The community revitalization device of claim 4, wherein the first judgment means, when it is determined that the task has not been completed and the deadline included in the task information has exceeded a predetermined period of time, reduces a motivation coefficient included in user information indicating a first user to which the task has been assigned. Further comprising a second update means,
The user information further includes a cumulative task completion number indicating a number of tasks previously completed by the first user indicated by the user information;
a cumulative task completion count included in user information indicating a first user to which the task is assigned is updated when it is determined that the task has been completed;
The community revitalization device according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the second update means updates a skill level included in user information indicating a first user to which the task is assigned based on the updated cumulative number of tasks handled. The community activation device according to claim 6, wherein the second update means updates a skill level included in user information representing the first user based on the number of tasks the first user has previously completed in a community different from the first community. Further comprising a second determination means,
The user information further includes a date on which the first user was active in the community;
The community revitalization device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the second determination means reduces a motivation coefficient included in the user information when it is determined that a predetermined period of time has passed since the date included in the user information. The community revitalization device according to claim 8, further comprising a notification means for notifying a first user indicated by the user information when the motivation coefficient included in the user information is lower than a predetermined value. a third acquisition means for acquiring a motivation coefficient of each of a plurality of users participating in the community from a plurality of pieces of user information indicating the plurality of users stored in the storage means;
The community revitalization device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising: a calculation means for calculating a sum of the acquired motivation coefficients of each of the plurality of users. The task information includes a task content and a deadline specified by the second user,
The difficulty level included in the task information is inferred by a first mathematical model using the content and deadline of the task included in the task information as input;
The community revitalization device according to claim 1 , wherein the first mathematical model is generated by a machine learning algorithm. A first user to whom the task indicated by the task information is assigned is inferred by a second mathematical model using as input a difficulty level included in the task information and a skill level and a motivation coefficient included in the acquired plurality of pieces of user information;
The community revitalization device according to claim 1 , wherein the second mathematical model is generated by a machine learning algorithm. A method executed by a community activation device that manages a community in which a plurality of first users participate, and that has a storage means for storing user information indicating each of the plurality of first users, the user information including a skill level of the first user and a motivation coefficient indicating the motivation of the first user, the method comprising:
When a second user requests a task from the community, the second user acquires task information including a difficulty level of the task;
acquiring from the storage means a plurality of pieces of user information including a skill level corresponding to a difficulty level included in the acquired task information;
and assigning the task indicated by the task information to a first user determined from among a plurality of first users indicated by the plurality of pieces of user information based on a motivation coefficient included in the acquired plurality of pieces of user information.

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