Codermetrics

Name

Acceleration

Synopsis

Purpose

Measure the ratio of user benefits delivered to urgent user issues created.

Formula

Acceleration = (Boost / Number of User Issues with the highest Urgency) × 100

Example

A new software release is issued at the end of June. In the three months following the release, the following data is gathered regarding user benefits contained in the release:

• Key transaction performance improvement, validated by embedded performance measurements, Population Benefited is 100%

• Key new reports, validated by usage data, Population Benefited is 75%

• Usability improvements in most used product area, validated by customer survey, Population Benefited is 100%

• New integration utility, validated by usage data, Population Benefited is 10%

The Boost for the release is calculated as follows:

Boost = (1.0 + .75 + 1.0 + .10) = 2.85

Also in the three months following the release, the customer support team records 22 User Issues with the highest customer Urgency rating of 4.

With this data, Acceleration during this timeframe can be calculated in this way:

Acceleration = (2.85 / 22) × 100 = 13

Notes

While Gain gives you a view of how a software release is doing in gaining more users, and Gain Rate gives you a view of the rate and momentum of growing the user base, the Acceleration metric gives you a summary of the gains made for existing users. I call this metric Acceleration because when the “boost” of user benefits exceeds the “drag” of severe issues, then the positive response of existing users ...