Use of software metrics in agile software development process

Abstract

While software metrics typically help to assess the status of a project, process, product, and resource use, the suitability of metrics in Agile Software Development (ASD) process is frequently questioned due to the overheads involved. Moreover, many established metrics used in the Traditional Software Development (TSD) process, cannot be directly applied to ASD due to its iterative and incremental development process that is willing to incorporate changes throughout. Nevertheless, very little is explored about the use and suitability of metrics in the context of ASD. We fill this gap by exploring metrics suitable for the ASD process, use of those metrics in practice, perceived benefits, and related tools. Our survey and interview based analysis of 24 development companies identified 10 metrics that can be beneficial to the ASD process, where their benefits outweigh the overheads involved.