The Most Important Success Metrics for Software Development

Fourth Lagao January 21, 2021

Digital transformation has picked up the pace during the pandemic, and many businesses are now relying on Software Development services to keep up with today’s demand and competition. But what exactly is software development, and how can we measure its success?

A quick definition

In layman’s terms, Software Development services is an in-depth process of designing an application or software to fit a specific objective, goal, or process. 

Building and maintaining software can be quite expensive for companies, which is why it’s crucial to measure its returns through success metrics. When equipped with these metrics, both the management and the development team can quickly identify the project bottlenecks and assess their strides to enhance the team’s productivity and manage them effectively.

Success metrics that matter

Businesses with an outsourced or in-house IT partner need to be cognizant of software development metrics and use them as the groundwork for upcoming projects.

Technical Metrics

There are many technical metrics to consider, but most of which identify your IT partner’s performance. To help you understand more about these metrics, here are some key points for business leaders to consider:

1. Deployment Frequency: How often is the software deployed to production for use? These metrics can help the management understand how much time the development team is investing and how effectively they work in a software project.
2. Lead Time for Changes: This metric refers to the amount of time it takes from writing and verifying the codes in your software system to delivering it into production.
3. Time to Restore Service: Statistically, errors are very likely to occur during software production. This metric will help you track the length of time the development team takes to restore the service.
4. Change Failure Rate: The percentage of the application crash rate changes due to errors or poor application performance, requiring an immediate fix. This measures the business value delivered and the cost of remediating failures.

Business Value Metrics

Business Value Metrics are the most useful metrics that businesses can create and track. It is essential to determine the IT budget and how it ultimately benefits the company. By continuously measuring the success and improvement of business performance, the management can better grasp how the software contributes to revenue.

Additionally, it’s best to create justifiable metrics that both the management and the development team can obtain within a given period and budget. 

Defining metrics is a right starting place for most businesses to gather feedback and track every project’s success rate. The management should intrinsically coincide these metrics with the software development services team to ensure that both parties have a clear understanding and improve their work continuously. Communication, a smart deployment plan, and an error-free service or product are the keys to ensuring a project’s success.

Leave your comment