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Developer Productivity Measurement: The Full List of 2024 Research Papers & Resources

This page enumerates the most-cited research data, concepts, and tactics to measure developer progress. Its purpose is to educate Engineering Managers, so they are empowered with data-backed knowledge. Armed with modern, relevant developer productivity research, Managers can build a workplace that fosters consistent, productive engineering.

  1. Original first-party research
  2. Competitive research
  3. Developer feature explainers
  4. Developer measurement analysis, comparison, and reviews

See also the detailed technical documentation for all features and reports offered by GitClear.

What We're Reading

Modern, high-polish research & analysis on measurement found on the web.

Got a link to research that has helped you? Tell us about it & we'll add it.

Research: Instrumenting developer productivity to compare best metrics

No single metric can tell the full story of developer productivity. This section presents research exploring which metrics perform best in which situations, and how to combine them to get a more complete picture.

We also collect this research on our GitClear First-Party Research & Studies page.

Git Commit Count Percentile Stats, Annual Days Active from 878,592 Dev-year Data Points
878,592 dev-years analyzed to chart out the median annual commits for developers across GitHub.
5-10 minute read
Code Review Strategies Yield 31% Decrease in Pull Request Lines
This research analyzed 12,638 pull requests and observed a reduction of 22-31% in code lines to review by better interpreting code operations. 50 review participants suggest that review quality remains high.
Coding on Copilot: 2023 Data Shows Downward Pressure on Code Quality
More than 1.2m lines of code are analyzed over 5 years time to assess the quantitative impact of AI Assistants on code quality.
Diff Delta™ correlation research
More than 2,700 issues are analyzed to assess the relation between Story Points (dev effort) and Diff Delta.
15+ minute to read
Company size predicts velocity
Diff Delta in context: Benchmarks for 10k, 100k or 1m, and how does company size influence velocity?
15+ minute to read
Lines of Code: Cutting noise
More than 30 million lines of code are analyzed to show how LOC correlates with developer productivity.
Less than 5 minute read
First principles: Diff Delta vs field
Over 40,000 data points used to statistically compare Diff Delta™, Commit Count, Cycle Time, more
10-15 minute read
Git Stats: Gallery of free tools with screenshots and examples
The wealth of readily available git stats is unprecedented. But, you get what you pay for
10-15 minute read
Diff Delta composition
Diff Delta™ is GitClear's empirically-validated appraisal of how much durable change occurred per commit.
5-10 minute read

What are the best Developer Analytics tools to instrument productivity?

Different tools specialize on different elements of ensuring an effective engineering culture. This section presents research to compare the relative strengths of each tool.

Compare Pluralsight/GitPrime, Pinpoint, Code Climate, and GitClear
Compare underlying sources used to calculate metrics, and how they differ.
15+ minute to read
Five advantages vs Pluralsight Flow (nee GitPrime)
Metrics you can share with developers, at a fraction of the cost.
5-10 minute read
Pricing Developer Analytics tools
How do the pricing and features compare among 2023's top-shelf Developer Analytics products?
Less than 5 minute read

Developer Features available on GitClear

Research the tools that GitClear provides to developers to better understand how their code is impacting the business.

Introduction to Diff Delta and Commit Groups (video)
A 3 minute video introduction to Diff Delta and Commit Groups
Less than 5 minute read
Diff Delta & Commit Groups: In Pics
Understand GitClear's Diff Delta metric through pctures. Learn how Commit Groups layers on top to save PR review time.
10-15 minute read
Dynamic Github Profile README: free and easy to set up
Show off your work on your GitHub profile with a dynamic README. It's free and takes minutes to set up.
Less than 5 minute read
Commit Activity Browser: the fastest way to figure out what's been worked on lately
When progress isn't clear, it's easy to get dispirited. Commit Activity Browser means developer progress visceral
Less than 5 minute read
Tech debt: how to measure and fix it?
You don't have to spend hours researching tech debt. GitClear can point straight to the least flexible code
10-15 minute read

Developer measurement: Analysis, comparison and practical advice

GitClear is committed to providing the most comprehensive and up-to-date guides to state-of-the art tools & measurement.

Distilled Summary of Google's Most Recent State of Devops Report (2023/2024)
If you care about developer analytics/software intelligence, or just happy=>productive developers, Google's "State of Devops Report" is your compass
15+ minute to read
Measuring code activity in 2024 for data-driven decision makers
The most comprehensive guide to measuring software developer coding activity in 2024
15+ minute to read
Popular software engineering metrics, and how they get gamed
The old saying goes: 'If you can't measure it, you can't manage it.' But are you measuring the wrong thing?
15+ minute to read
Three actionable ideas to use git data to promote developer happiness
Data as an ally to stimulate developer happiness, not a weapon to punish them.
5-10 minute read
Four worst software metrics agitating devs
For as long as there have been computer programmers, there have been stupid metrics used to measure them.
5-10 minute read

If you'd like to get a detailed list of all available GitClear reports & features, check out our product documentation.

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