Search

Agile methods promise to achieve high productivity and provide high-quality software. Agile software development is the most important approach that has spread through the world of software development over the past decade. Software team productivity measurement is essential in agile teams to increase the performance of software development. Due to the prevalence of agile methodologies and increasing competition of software development companies, software team productivity has become one of the crucial challenges for agile software companies and teams. Awareness of the level of team productivity can help them to achieve better estimation results on the time and cost of the projects. However, to measure software productivity, there is no definitive solution or approach whether in traditional and agile software development teams that lead to the occurrence of many problems in achieving a reliable definition of software productivity. Hence, this study aims to propose a statistical model to assess the team’s productivity in agile teams. A survey was conducted with forty software companies and measured the impact of six factors of the team on productivity in these companies. The results show that team effectiveness factors including inter-team relationship, quality conformance by the team, team vision, team leader, and requirements handled by the team had a significant impact on the team’s productivity. Moreover, the results also state that inter-team relations affect the most on software teams’ productivity. Finally, the model fit test showed that 80% of productivity depends on team effectiveness factors.

To the Editor.— The vast majority of accidents cause injury to the occupant of a fast-moving vehicle as a result of a single mechanism, failure of the occupant to decelerate synchronously with the rest of the vehicle. Seat belts and shoulder harnesses are obvious answers to this problem. Unfortunately, most passengers just don't use seat belts and probably never will. It has been estimated that only 15% of drivers regularly use seat and shoulder belts. Thirty percent are judged to use them sporadically. Obviously, mechanical restraints, although theoretically the most efficient devices in preventing injuries have, in practice, proved less than adequate. Another solution, however unconventional, appears promising enough to deserve field trials. It may appear quite absurd at first glance, but it is also marvelously simple. It consists of reversing the direction the passengers face in the moving vehicle. Cars should be so designed that all passengers (including the