Rethinking Productivity in Software Engineering

by Caitlin Sadowski

The following are the main types of lenses we feel are important to consider: Stakeholders : Different stakeholders (e.g., developer, manager, vice president, etc.) may have varied goals and interpretations of any sort of productivity measurement. Before trying to understand and measure productivity, it is essential to identify which stakeholders are of concern and what is important to those stakeholders. It may not be immediately obvious which stakeholders should be considered; a researcher or practitioner may need to carefully elicit which stakeholder perspectives are important. Context : Particular project, social, and cultural factors will change perceptions of productivity. For example, if developers feel that helping others is valued by their team, then they will feel that time spent answering questions is productive. The underlying development context (e.g., open source projects versus projects focused on profits) affects productivity goals. Though context lenses are often implicit, sometimes it may be necessary to explicitly consider the impact of any norms, values, or attitudes. Level : Each lens in the level category represents a particular scale (in terms of group size) at which productivity is considered. Individual developers, teams, organizations and the surrounding community will lead to different perceptions of productivity, and productivity goals may also be in tension across these different groups. An intervention that may benefit one level may not hold a...