Patent US 9,304,764

A system and method for selectively operating on changed elements, for example merging, in a software development environment are provided. A software project comprising one or more version-controlled software development objects, or elements, is associated with one or more defects recording changed elements in the software development environment. The system and method provide for automated merging of changed elements associated with defects tagged for forward merging into the software project, and association or tracking actions for changed elements associated with defects that are tagged as not to be merged. The process of automated merging is carried out using a master work list listing work items representing changed elements ordered chronologically.