Metrics in Software Development: Examples & Best Practices

Most firms want to deliver valuable products and services to their target audience. As such, they employ metrics to track the success and value of their product creation. So, let us explore the importance of metrics and their role in SDLC. We will walk you through the different categories and types of metrics in software development to get more insights. So, let us dive deep for more.

Gauging the performance of the software is crucial to boost its robustness. That is why most development teams use metrics in software development. It helps enhance the overall performance of the software since it allows the team to pinpoint areas that need changes and adjustments. Besides, your team can track the effectiveness of the software testing to make better decisions. So, if you want to measure several aspects of software development, you must learn about software metrics and the steps to track them.

With the help of professional hands like Appsierra, you will get a comprehensive view of your application. Thus, you can learn the problems and risks in your app that can impact its working. At our company, we understand the importance of metrics and give our clients the best methods to optimize their SDLC to fulfill their goals. Our team also compares the app's performance to industrial standards to keep it future-proof and efficient.

A proficient Software Development Agency recognizes the pivotal role of metrics in gauging project progress, ensuring code quality, and enhancing overall efficiency.

In this guide, we will discuss the following topics:

• What are software metrics in software development?
• Why are software metrics crucial for software development?
• What are the categories of software metrics?
• What are the types of software metrics?
• How do you track software metrics?

What are Software Metrics?

Software metrics in software engineering are standards used to evaluate software characteristics. In other words, they are countable measures that gauge the software performance, track productivity, plan upcoming tasks, and manage the entire production phase.

Besides, metrics allow you to assess the app's features through distinct figures and trends during the development. It also enables you to simplify the whole software project since it keeps the production team informed about issues in the app. As a result, they can design efficient procedures and develop maintenance plans for the app development.

So, while you are building your software, the software metrics must possess the following characteristics:

• Quantitative
• Programming language-independent
• Consistency
• Understandable
• Applicability
• Cost-effectiveness

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Why are Software Metrics Crucial for Software Development?

You can use software metrics in software development to meet several purposes, including evaluating the software's performance and productivity. Besides, you can identify and fix the potential issues that can cause software failure. So, let us explore the benefits of software metrics. They are as follows:

Save cost and money

Software metrics provide clarity on how to optimize the software product in different aspects. It enables you to use the right tools and technologies to build responsive apps that meet the user's needs. Hence, software metrics help allocate resources and save time and money.

Boost understanding

With the help of software metrics, you will get the product's detailed description and project progress. As a result, software metrics allow the development team to get consistent updates and reports that make it easy to understand even complex apps.

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Control workloads

Employing efficient software metrics in software development lowers the uncertainty that surrounds complex projects. As a result, you can take the right steps and allocate resources correctly without any delay.

Boost productivity

You can use software developer performance metrics to assess your project team's progress toward efficiency and productivity. Besides, these metrics enable the team to manage and prioritize problems within the software project. As a result, they can enhance the workflow and foster better productivity.

Identify problems

One of the key benefits of software metrics is identifying areas that need improvement in an app. Thus, with the help of metrics, you can spot errors and bugs before they reduce the app's quality and performance.

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What are the Categories of Software Metrics?

Software metrics are stability metrics in software engineering that serve different purposes. These metrics allow you to optimize the product development process from its beginning stage to its end. As a result, there are three classifications of software metrics in software production. They are as follows:

Product metrics

You can use product metrics to define the product characteristics. In other words, you can assess the product's design, size, complexity, quality level, and performance at each stage of the SDLC. As a result, the product metrics in software development allow you to ensure that the product you built meets the user's needs. So, if the product fails to satisfy the users, you can use these metrics to spot and fix issues before they reach the market.

Process metrics

As the name suggests, the process metrics allow you to assess the software development services. As a result, these metrics help you choose the best-suited tools and frameworks to improve the software-building process.

Project metrics

Project metrics in software development define the project performance and its characteristics that help you lower costs and efforts. So, these metrics assess factors like the software project's total cost and its schedule, the required number of software developers, and their productivity. Therefore, when a project manager monitors a project's progress, they use these metrics regularly to reduce the total cost, errors, and efforts.

What are the Types of Software Metrics?

When you track the progress of your project, employing software metrics helps enhance the quality of your software. It will guarantee increased customer satisfaction and revenue for your business. So, let us walk you through the types of software metrics in software development:

I - Agile Process Metrics

Agile process metrics are metrics used for improving the software development process. You can use these metrics to see how Agile your team can decide and plan projects.

Cycle time

Cycle time refers to the time it takes to modify a software system and implement the change during the app production. So, with cycle time, you can measure how much time the app goes down during development.

Lead time

Lead time refers to the time it takes to design and build a new software concept into the final product. You can create a responsive app that meets the customer's needs by lowering the lead time.

Team velocity

Team velocity refers to metrics in software development that measure the number of software units a team builds during a sprint.

Open-close rates

Open/close rates track the production problems in a software app to make the production process efficient. So, it involves gauging the number of issues reported and solved by the production time in a period.

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II - Function-Oriented Metrics

Function-oriented metrics involve assessing the software's functionality to make it efficient and productive. Therefore, these metrics use functional points for measuring software engineering productivity. So, let us explore the factors to measure the functionality of software:

Errors per functional point

These metrics involve finding errors or defects in each functional point to improve the software quality. As a result, employing error per functional point metrics allows you to improve the app’s user experience.

Defect removal efficiency

DRE are metrics in software development that help you measure the number of defects found in an app after it reaches the end users. Hence, these metrics allow you to remove all the errors in your app before its launch.

III - Production Metrics

Production metrics measure the efficiency of your software development team in designing and building a software app. So, given below are the software development KPI examples to monitor the team's productivity:

Active days

Active days measure the number of days a software developer takes to write codes for a software development project. These metrics in software development allow you to find the loss of resources and costs because of interruption.

Application crash rate (ACR)

You can employ the ACR metrics to measure the number of times an app crashes to the number of times you use it. So, if the app has a lower number of crashes, it is a good indicator that the software is efficient and reliable.

Assignment scope

Assignment scope involves the amount of code a programmer can maintain for a year for better performance. It helps you estimate the number of developers needed to support the system.

Code churn

Code churn calculates the number of lines changed, added, or deleted in a period during the software development process. So, if your software project has increased code churn, it means the system needs more attention.

IV - Security Metrics

Security metrics are valuable metrics in software development that measure the security responses in your software to see its quality and robustness.

Endpoint incidents

These metrics help you measure the number of end-user devices that a software program infects in a given period. Employing these metrics guides you in building standards that can avoid viruses.

Mean Time To Repair (MTTR)

MTTR calculates the total time required for finding and solving a software breach. So, if the MTTR takes weeks to fix a security breach, it means your software security is low and needs more stringent measures.

How do you Track Software Metrics?

Software metrics have proved to be a great mechanism for managing a software project team since they track and measure software performance. So, let us see how to track software metrics for efficient and productive software development:

• You must align the software metrics with your business goals.
• You must follow trends by tracking values to see how each process works.
• The project team must set smaller time frames to catch more defects in the software development.

Besides, following simple and programmable software metrics helps the software development team immensely. It guides the team on the right track by giving them efficient and concise data to build responsive products for the end users. However, now, most firms leverage the use of software development platforms to automate the measuring and tracking of metrics. So, if you find it hard to identify the right metrics for your software development, get the guidance of service providers like Appsierra. The team will help you achieve your business goals by optimizing the entire development process.

Wrapping it up

You can boost the app's performance and reliability with the help of the right software metrics in software development. Besides, metrics offer valuable data and insights that help the project team to make better decisions for the software. However, you must select the right software metrics that align with your business goals and software needs.

That is why you need the help of a company like Appsierra. Our team will understand your conditions and guide you to optimize the whole development process to achieve your goals. So, contact our team now to enjoy a matchless experience.

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