Codermetrics

Name

Assists

Synopsis

Purpose

Measure the amount of coder interruptions and how much a coder helps others.

Formula

Assists = Sum (Interrupts) + Sum (Helps)

Example

Over the course of two development iterations, Coder A is noted as having received the following number of unexpected interruptions (Interrupts) and is noted to have proactively assisted others (Helps) the following number of times:

Iteration 1: 4 Interrupts, 2 Helps

Iteration 2: 1 Interrupt, 2 Helps

The Assists can then be calculated per iteration, and you can determine Total and Average:

Assists Iteration 1 = (4 + 2) = 6

Assists Iteration 2 = (1 + 2) = 3

Total Assists = (6 + 3) = 9

Average Assists = (6 + 3) / 2 = 4.5

Notes

The Assists metric shows you a different side of the contributions that a coder makes to the team and to the organization. It can be a very useful metric to help analyze the makeup and the work patterns of software development teams.

For example, look at Tables 4-5 and 4-6. These are metrics for two four-person teams taken from two small projects, both measured in monthly development iterations, with averages calculated per iteration. In this case you have the metrics for the individual coders on each team and then a comparison of the team summaries. Team summaries are calculated by adding the individual coder totals.

Table 4-5. Basic monthly Offensive Metrics for a team of coders on one small project

	Avg. Points	Avg. Utility	Avg. Assists
Coder A	48.4	15.6	5.1
Coder B	45.2	17.4	7.3
Coder C	39.3	15.7	6.2
Coder D	40.2	18.3	8.1
Team Totals ...