How practitioners perceive the relevance of productivity metrics for an agile software development team

Abstract

Agile methods have been adopted more frequently in software development. There is literature on the use of productivity metrics for work teams as a tool for continuous improvement in agile software development (ASD), however, works on the relevance that these measures may have for professionals who use agile methods is very limited. This paper contributes to this regard by answering the question: What is the level of relevance of productivity metrics for professionals who develop software and use agile methods? The answer was given from a survey that followed the protocol of Kitchenham and Pfleeger called Personal Opinion Surveys. The professional collaborators rated two aspects with a high level of relevance: the first, information is obtained on the effort required to implement a software product and the second is to measure the client benefits while the software is manufactured and it is operating. In addition, a path was established for the process of measuring the effort required in the early and frequent delivery of software, which adds value. © 2020, Associacao Iberica de Sistemas e Tecnologias de Informacao. All rights reserved.