What is Development Productivity (DevP)?

Development Productivity (DevP) is a measure used to assess the efficiency of a software development project in terms of the amount of code produced per unit of development effort (typically measured in hours).

Simply, it helps evaluate how much software (in terms of lines of code, or KLOC) is being developed for each hour of work.

Formula

 DevP = KLOC / Hours of Development Work

Where:

• KLOC is the number of lines of code in thousands.
• Hours of Development Work is the total time developers spend on the project.

Example

Let’s understand the metric calculation with the help of an example.

If a software project has 269 KLOC (thousands of lines of code) and takes 430 hours of development, the DevP can be calculated as:

DevP = 269 KLOC / 430 hours

           ≈ 0.626 KLOC per hour

 

This means that the team produces approximately 0.626 KLOC of code for every hour of work.

A higher DevP indicates more code is being produced for each hour of work, suggesting better productivity or efficiency. A lower DevP may indicate inefficiencies, such as time spent on non-coding activities, high complexity in the code, or other factors affecting developer productivity.