{"stable_id":"bc88eb70918fc8a9","slug":"accenture-github-copilot-field-experiment","company":"Accenture","workflow_name":"GitHub Copilot-assisted daily engineering work","function_code":"software_engineering","pattern_codes":["creator_to_judge"],"changed_assumption":"Developers can accept, edit, or reject inline suggestions while build, review, and merge controls remain.","evidence_strength":"verified","publication_tier":"showcase","freshness":"current","reviewed_at":"2026-08-23","updated_at":"2026-08-22","source_quality_summary":"1 independent; publication outcomes are verified.","caveat_summary":"Preliminary estimates were imprecise and statistically significant only under weighting for periods with stronger uptake differences.","freshness_caveat":null,"workflow_summary":{"before":[{"actor":"Developer","action":"Writes implementation and test code manually.","actor_type":"control"},{"actor":"Reviewer","action":"Reviews submitted code and decides whether to merge.","actor_type":"human"}],"hinge":"Developers can accept, edit, or reject inline suggestions while build, review, and merge controls remain.","after":[{"actor":"Developer with Copilot","action":"Receives inline code suggestions and accepts, edits, or rejects them.","actor_type":"system"},{"actor":"Reviewer","action":"Reviews the complete human-owned change.","actor_type":"human"}],"decision_mode":"shared","decision_marker":"Human moves from creator to judge"},"before":[{"order":1,"actor":"Developer","action":"Writes implementation and test code manually.","handoff_to":"Build and pull request","control":"Tests and code review."},{"order":2,"actor":"Reviewer","action":"Reviews submitted code and decides whether to merge.","handoff_to":"Repository","control":"Standard engineering governance."}],"after":[{"order":1,"actor":"Developer with Copilot","action":"Receives inline code suggestions and accepts, edits, or rejects them.","handoff_to":"Build and pull request","control":"Developer review, tests, scanning, and policy."},{"order":2,"actor":"Reviewer","action":"Reviews the complete human-owned change.","handoff_to":"Repository","control":"Unchanged merge authority."}],"decision_rights":"Developers decide whether suggestions enter a change; reviewers and repository controls decide merge.","exception_path":"Developers reject unsuitable output and code manually; failed tests or reviews block the change.","removed_work":["Portions of routine code composition"],"outcomes":[{"metric":"Pull requests completed per week","baseline":"Randomized Accenture developers without Copilot access.","result":"Access was associated with 7.51%-8.69% more pull requests per week, depending on specification.","period":"Field experiment beginning July 2022.","scale":"311 Accenture developers in the research sample.","attribution_caveat":"Preliminary estimates were imprecise and statistically significant only under weighting for periods with stronger uptake differences.","evidence_label":"verified"}],"executive_lesson":"Real-world productivity evidence is more modest and noisier than lab claims; adoption and quality controls matter.","anti_pattern":"Using pull-request count alone as proof of engineering value.","questions_for_leaders":["Did defect rates change?","How much assigned access became actual use?","Which repositories are excluded?"],"collections":["human-still-decides"],"bundle_version":"1.0.0","bundle_fingerprint":"sha256:c23c6cc2b88153d008ea8fda928f632ce0011fc2d4c5036672a16e5d895bab93","canonical_url":"https://brianletort.ai/transformations/accenture-github-copilot-field-experiment"}