/tech-debt-business-metrics

Technical Debt Business Metrics and Calculations

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Technical Debt Business Metrics and Calculations

Given

time_cost = person months spent on fix/refactor/project total including training and any temporary lost efficiency

total_improvement = specific to scenario

Then

payoff_period = time_cost / total_improvement

roi_amount (months) = (total_improvement * roi_period) - time_cost

roi_percent = roi_amount /time_cost

To combine multiple sources of improvement

total_improvement = sum(improvements)

Efficiency Improvements

Given

efficiency_loss = fraction of development time lost to technical debt/issues being addressed

percent_improvement = percent reduction in efficiency loss expected to acheived by this fix/refactor/project expressed as fraction/decimal

n = number of developers impacted

roi_period = period over which to evaluate ROI

Then

total_improvement = (efficiency_loss * percent_improvement * n)

Blockers

Given

value_of_unblocked_PBIs cost_of_unblocking (= time_cost) cost_of_unblocked

Then

total_improvement = value_of_unblocked_PBIs * (cost_of_unblocking / (cost_of_unblocking + cost_of_unblocked))

Optimization

Server Costs

CPU Time, RAM, HD

User Cost

User

Defect Risk

Semi-Known Single Defect

Given

cost_of_defect = The average cost to business of the likely class of defect chance_of_defect = The chance a defect will happen percent_improvement = The percent reduction in chance of defect happening

Then

risk_of_defect = cost_of_defect * chance_of_defect total_improvement = cost_of_defect * percent_improvement

Unknown Multiple Defects

Given

cost_of_defect = The average cost to business of the likely class of defect expected_number_of_defects = The expected number of defects expected_percent_defect_reduction = The expected number of defects

Then

risk_of_defects = cost_of_defect * expected_number_of_defects total_improvement = risk_of_defects * expected_percent_defect_reduction