Software development is an art in which a few lines of code play a very important role in the smooth functioning of an organization. It can never be a contribution of an individual. Instead, it is the combined effort of the entire team. From planning to production, each step requires analysis of efficiency as well as other key features of the software. Keeping this in mind, the Software Development companies use software metrics to develop an unbiased, data-based approach to assess the work efficiency of the engineers.
What are software metrics
The software metrics are nothing but the quantifiable or countable measurements of software characteristics like the time of execution, resources, performance of the code, planning work items, debugging, estimated cost and productivity, etc. Therefore, it is important for both Custom Software Development companies’ developers and the development team leaders to access the performance and efficiency of software developers. A successful software development service provider will choose the metrics in 2021 based on its simplicity, computability, consistency, unambiguity, dependability of programming language, adaptability, capability to be calibrated, and cost.
Types of software development metrics
During software development, the metrics can be roughly distinguished as those that assess the resulting software and those analyzing the insights of the development process. Thus, breaking down into the following categories:
1– Formal metrics – Counts the number of lines of code written per day. This form is irrelevant today because a 50 lines code can be more efficient as compared to 200 lines.
2– Operational metrics – Analyze the mean time between failure and correction. This form can also keep a watch on correcting time.
3– Developer productivity metrics – Specific to the effectiveness of an individual’s work by analyzing the scope of work, code churn, etc.
4– Agile related metrics – Dividing the work into shorter tasks and undergoing frequent reassessment and adaptation by the company by analyzing team velocity, lead time, and many other tasks.
5– Test related metrics – Related to elements like test authentication, unresolved issues, code coverage, etc.
6– Customer satisfaction metrics – Based on the ability to satisfy the customers and customers reviews.
It is clear that one must study the designing and implementation effectiveness of all types to select the best for the company’s software development. Before starting the process, metrics must be chosen by tracking the management tools rather than copying the set from other projects. For example, for a real-time processing system, process metrics will be the best choice, and so on.
Need for software development metrics
To bridge the gap between software developers and businessmen, we need to take help from the metrics. Starting from the request to production, prediction of efficiency at each stage enhances the chances of happy developers, happy customers, and happy service providers as:
1- Project management and planning – Analysis of the previous iteration of the project for managing and prior planning of budget, time, resources, and other requirements to provide timely solutions to the developers and maintain a framework for success.
2- Project overview and prioritization – Metrics are a good way to analyze and plan for the possible solutions, priority of the work, and project state of each team to maximize the outcome in a limited time.
3- Implementing changes – It is easier to understand and predict the outcome of changing management tools, practice, approaches, etc. using metrics, and thereby correlating the task with the investment made on the project.
4- Service adjustment and monitoring – Through SLA (Service Level Agreement) monitoring, customers can directly communicate and track the expected value and understand the productivity of outsourced teams. Analysis of the frequency of release, test coverage, features waiting in the backlog, defects, etc. gives the perfect summary of the software development process to the investors. The amount of time taken to finish the work is called cycle time. The average time taken for the management process and backlog is called start time. The sum of both is called lead time. This time gives the idea about the changes required in contributions and expectations.
5- Measure work quality – Low quality leads to missed delivery dates, frustrated software developers, long hours of work, unhappy customers, iteration interruptions, etc. To avoid such defaults or come out of the struggles, metrics can be a saviour by deeply analysing and quantifying the bugs, comments, etc.
Deciding for best
Tracking all the metrics one by one is a waste of time and money. To draw up an effective list of metrics, a software engineer and a quality assurance engineer along with the business stakeholders and project owner should shortlist the key requirements for the project process and development. A few minutes of blocked functionality can result in a loss of approximately $20000 in eCommerce. Therefore, the participants must start with the root cause analysis of each software character and produce the best for the organization. Metrics analysing quality attributes, and other features to track the comprehensive information will be the required tool.
Implementing metrics
After plumping for the right list, implementation will run as follows:
1– Choosing the metrics formula – Using the available formulas like Halstead’s Metrics, McCabe’s Cyclomatic Complexity, etc. or creating custom steps for solving complex attributes or adapting a simple measurement, the metric works on a series of guidelines provided by the service providers.
2– Identifying the input data required for measurement and making them available for tracking.
3– Choosing the location of input data – The data sources can be specific data owners, project management tools, control management systems, continuous integration tools, application performance management tools, BI tools, social network interactions, survey forms, or assessment questionnaires.
4– Nominating a relevant candidate for the metric tracking role.
5– Choosing the relevant receivers and sharing the data with them.
6– Choosing the reporting time.
7– Offering an alternative in case of unsatisfactory results.
8– Regularly fixing the errors by continuous trials
Justifying the efforts
If the metrics analysis points out to a fewer implementation of newer features, the team might not be necessarily incompetent, rather they might be involved in improving the pre-existing releases. For deciding the output of the team through software development metrics, context must be looked upon for a more efficient and successful project.
