New approach to agile cycles containment effectiveness metrics in automotive software development

Abstract

In an ideal agile development team, defects should not exist. However, in reality, especially in automotive agile software development, there must be a mechanism for handling defects and tracking them to closure. In this article, we describe the benefits of and principles underlying the measurement of defects handling metrics in automotive programs and in organizations that have adopted agile software development. We present the Iteration Containment Effectiveness, Program Increment Containment Effectiveness, and Defect Debt Trend metrics. The advantages acquired thereby are demonstrated by a detailed example of a real application concerning how to measure the classic Phase Containment Effectiveness metric on the Iteration (Sprint) and Program Increment (Scum of Scrums / Scaled Agile) Level.