Productivity of agile teams: an empirical evaluation of factors and monitoring processes

Abstract

Lower cost and shorter time-to-market expectations are the major drivers of software productivity improvements. To manage productivity effectively, it is important to identify the most relevant difficulties and develop strategies to cope with them. Agile methods, including Extreme Programming and Scrum, have evolved as approaches to simplify software development process, potentially leading to better productivity. They aim to shorten development time and handle the inevitable changes resulting from market dynamics.Although the industry has extensively adopted agile methods, little research has empirically examined the software development agility construct regarding its dimensions, determinants, and effects on software development performance. Understanding this construct could help determine where to concentrate management efforts (and related financial resources) from a practical standpoint and where to focus research efforts from an academic perspective.Considerable research has been directed at identifying factors that have a significant impact on software development productivity. In general, the studied productivity factors were related to product, personnel, project, process, or organizational issues. Continuously evaluating productivity factors is important, as factors may change under new software engineering practices. However, little research has investigated the major factors influencing agile team productivity.The goal of this thesis was to explore productivity definitions, factors, and monitoring in agile teams and to improve the practice based on the collected evidence and gained knowledge. This thesis presents five novel contributions: C1 -Empirical verification of the importance of productivity for companies adopting agile methods and its perceived benefits; C2 -Rationale for the definition of productivity in the context of agile methods; C3 -Empirical verification of agile team productivity factors; C4 -A conceptual framework for agile team productivity factors and their impact; C5 -A team productivity monitoring process considering adaptability and an evaluation of the usefulness of agile team productivity metrics.

A Statistical Model to Assess the Team's Productivity in Agile Software Teams

“…Melo showed that team size, variety, personality, proficiency, collocation, and devotion of time are among the key factors to be considered when designing agile teams. They found that team management was the most influential factor in agile team productivity [1,20]. Research conducted by Verner et al showed that the factors of teamwork productivity vary from country to country and culture to culture could affect teamwork's decision-making process, problemsolving approach, social communication, fulfillment, and expectation.…”

“…The second question of the research is: RQ2: How can software team productivity be measured? Given the impact of each factor on productivity, it can be measured in the form of equation (1) The third research question, RQ3 is: How could software team productivity be increased? By focusing on each of the agile team factors in order of priority that can affect productivity, it can be increased.…”

“…Agile teams define productivity as timeliness, quantity, quality, and customer satisfaction. According to the studies conducted, the measurement of software productivity is considered an effective approach to control and predict and improve the projects of software companies [1]. However, there is no distinctive definition regarding team productivity in the literature.…”

A Statistical Model to Assess the Team's Productivity in Agile Software Teams

“…Melo showed that team size, variety, personality, proficiency, collocation, and devotion of time are among the key factors to be considered when designing agile teams. They found that team management was the most influential factor in agile team productivity [1,23]. A research conducted by Verner et al showed that the factors of teamwork productivity vary from country to country and culture to culture could affect teamwork's decision-making process, problem-solving approach, social communication, fulfillment, and expectation.…”

“…Agile teams define productivity as timeliness, quantity, quality, and customer satisfaction. According to the studies conducted, the measurement of software productivity is considered as an effective approach to control and predict and improve the projects of software companies [1]. However, there is no distinctive definition regarding the team productivity in the literature.…”