Evaluating the productivity in software development for telecommunication applications

The increasing complexity and high non-functional requirements put on the applications for mobile telecommunication call for new solutions. An example of such a solution can be a software platform that provides helpful features and characteristics. The introduction of such a platform may, however, affect the development productivity. In this study we present experiences from research carried out at Ericsson. The purpose of the research was productivity improvement of software development when using the new platform. In this study we quantified and evaluated the current productivity level by comparing it with Unix development characteristics. We revealed a factor of four difference in productivity. Later we decomposed the problem into two issues: code writing speed and average amount of code necessary to deliver functionality. We assessed the impact of both these issues. We described the nature of the problem by identifying factors that affect productivity and estimating their importance. To the issues identified we suggested number of remedies. The main methods used in the study were interviews and historical data research.