Productivity in software development has always been tricky to measure. Unlike in other industries, the act of programming is not something that’s easy to parallelize. The development process is unique in that it requires a diverse mix of technical and communications skills, which calls for a set of specialized metrics to keep track of the team’s vitals.

The Pulse of Software Development

Not all metrics were created equal. Depending on the context, some are more useful than others. The things we choose to measure can help us find problems or obscure them behind irrelevant data and non-productive goals.