Terminology Programming productivity

1 terminology

1.1 productivity
1.2 profitability
1.3 performance
1.4 efficiency , effectiveness
1.5 quality

terminology

productivity important topic investigated in disciplines various manufacturing, organizational psychology, industrial engineering, strategic management, finance, accounting, marketing , economics. levels of analysis include individual, group, divisional, organizational , national levels [5]. due diversity, there no clear-cut definition of productivity , influencing factors, although research has been conducted more century. in software engineering, lack of common agreement on constitutes productivity, perceived major obstacle substantiated discussion of productivity. following definitions describe best consensus on terminology.

productivity

while there no commonly agreed on definition of productivity, there appears agreement productivity describes ratio between output , input:

productivity = output / input

however, across various disciplines different notions and, particularly, different measurement units input , output can found. manufacturing industry typically uses straightforward relation between number of units produced , number of units consumed. non-manufacturing industries use man-hours or similar units enable comparison between outputs , inputs.

one basic agreement meaning of productivity , means measuring vary depending of context under evaluation. in manufacturing company possible contexts are:

the individual machine or manufacturing system;
the manufacturing function, example assembly;
the manufacturing process single product or group of related products;
the factory; and
the company’s entire factory system

as long classical production processes considered straightforward metric of productivity simple: how many units of product of specified quality produced costs. intellectual work, productivity trickier. how measure productivity of authors, scientists, or engineers? due rising importance of knowledge work (as opposed manual work), many researchers tried develop productivity measurement means can applied in non-manufacturing context. commonly agreed nature of knowledge work fundamentally differs manual work and, hence, factors besides simple output/input ratio need taken account, e.g. quality, timeliness, autonomy, project success, customer satisfaction , innovation. however, research communities in neither discipline have been able establish broadly applicable , accepted means productivity measurement yet. same holds more specific area of programming productivity.

profitability

profitability , performance closely linked , are, in fact, confused. however, profitability defined ratio between revenue , cost

profitability = revenue / cost

it has wider scope performance, i.e. number of factors influence profitability greater number of factors influence productivity. particularly, profitability can change without change productivity, e.g. due external conditions cost or price inflation. besides that, interdependency between productivity , profitability delayed, i.e. gains in productivity reflected in immediate profitability gains more realized on long-term.

performance

the term performance broader productivity , profitability , covers plethora of factors influence company’s success. hence, well-known performance controlling instruments balanced scorecard include productivity factor central not unique. other relevant factors e.g. customers’ or stakeholders’ perception of company.

efficiency , effectiveness

efficiency , effectiveness terms provide further confusion mixed and, additionally, efficiency confused productivity. difference between efficiency , effectiveness explained informally efficiency doing things right , effectiveness doing right things. while there numerous other definitions, there agreement efficiency refers utilisation of resources , influences required input of productivity ratio. effectiveness on other hand influences output of productivity ratio has direct consequences customer. effectiveness can defined ability reach desired output .

generally, assumed, efficiency can quantified, e.g. utilization rates, considerably more effectiveness.

quality

tangen states: improvements in quality, other fact no-fault products add output levels, ought not included in concept of productivity. however, of classic literature in non-software disciplines, in manufacturing area, not explicitly discuss role of quality of output in productivity ratio. more recent works non-manufacturing disciplines have stronger focus on knowledge, office or white-collar work , hence increasingly discuss role of quality respect quality.

drucker stresses importance of quality evaluation of knowledge worker productivity: productivity of knowledge work therefore has aim first @ obtaining quality—and not minimum quality optimum if not maximum quality. can 1 ask: volume, quantity of work?

saari captures importance of quality extended formula productivity:

total productivity = (output quality , quantity)/(input quality , quantity)

however, appears these efforts include quality in determination of productivity did not lead operationalizable concept yet. remains unclear how quantify vague terms “output quality , quantity” “input quality , quantity”, let alone calculate ratio.