The 5 Dimensions of Productivity All Engineering Managers Should Know

Take your development team’s productivity to new heights with the SPACE framework

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As Engineering Managers, we have all been tasked at some point in our careers to measure our team’s productivity; hence, we have a clear understanding of its complexities. Software development is not a simple production line in the sense that a developer can continuously and faultlessly produce and deploy software. It is an elaborate process that requires creative problem-solving and involves numerous variables, including changing business requirements, technology advancements, and the need to collaborate within and across teams.

Classic metrics tend to focus exclusively on outputs. Two examples that come to mind are: lines of code written or number of features shipped. Nevertheless, quality is a must-have complement to quantity. For instance, a convoluted solution may span across more lines than a clean and well-designed one. Likewise, the time-to-market of simple features can be much shorter than more complex requirements that realistically have a more substantial business impact.

Although measuring productivity just in terms of KPIs is not sufficient, not measuring productivity at all is also a recipe for disaster. A familiar quote to many…