Cycle time is a critical metric for assessing the efficiency of your development process that captures the total time taken from the start to the completion of a task.
Coding time is the first stage i.e. the duration from the initial commit to the pull request submission. Efficiently managing and reducing coding time is crucial for maintaining swift development cycles and ensuring timely project deliveries.
Focusing on minimizing coding time can enhance their workflow efficiency, accelerate feedback loops, and ultimately deliver high-quality code more rapidly. In this blog post, we'll explore strategies to effectively manage and reduce coding time to boost your team's productivity and success.
Cycle time measures the total elapsed time taken to complete a specific task or work item from the beginning to the end of the process.
Longer cycle time leads to delayed project deliveries and hinders overall development efficiency. On the other hand, Short cycle time enables faster feedback, quicker adjustments, and more efficient development, leading to accelerated project deliveries and improved productivity.
Measuring cycle time provides valuable insights into the efficiency of a software engineering team's development process. Below are some of how measuring cycle time can be used to improve engineering team efficiency:
Coding time is the time it takes from the first commit to a branch to the eventual submission of a pull request. It is a crucial part of the development process where developers write and refine their code based on the project requirements. High coding time can lead to prolonged development cycles, affecting delivery timelines. Managing the coding time efficiently is essential to ensure the code completion is done on time with quicker feedback loops and a frictionless development process.
To achieve continuous improvement, it is essential to divide the work into smaller, more manageable portions. Our research indicates that on average, teams require 3-4 days to complete a coding task, whereas high-performing teams can complete the same task within a single day.
In the Typo platform, If your coding time is high, your main dashboard will display the coding time as red.
Benchmarking coding time helps teams identify areas where developers may be spending excessive time, allowing for targeted improvements in development processes and workflows. It also enables better resource allocation and project planning, leading to increased productivity and efficiency.
Identify the delay in the “Insights” section at the team level & sort the teams by the cycle time.
Click on the team to deep dive into the cycle time breakdown of each team & see the delays in the coding time.
There are broadly three main causes of high coding time
Frequently, a lengthy coding time can suggest that the tasks or assignments are not being divided into more manageable segments. It would be advisable to investigate repositories that exhibit extended coding times for a considerable number of code changes. In instances where the size of a PR is substantial, collaborating with your team to split assignments into smaller, more easily accomplishable tasks would be a wise course of action.
“Commit small, commit often”
While working on an issue, you may encounter situations where seemingly straightforward tasks unexpectedly grow in scope. This may arise due to the discovery of edge cases, unclear instructions, or new tasks added after the assignment. In such cases, it is advisable to seek clarification from the product team, even if it may take longer. Doing so will ensure that the task is appropriately scoped, thereby helping you complete it more effectively
There are occasions when a task can prove to be more challenging than initially expected. It could be due to a lack of complete comprehension of the problem, or it could be that several "unknown unknowns" emerged, causing the project to expand beyond its original scope. The unforeseen difficulties will inevitably increase the overall time required to complete the task.
When a developer has too many ongoing projects, they are forced to frequently multitask and switch contexts. This can lead to a reduction in the amount of time they spend working on a particular branch or issue, increasing their coding time metric.
Use the work log to understand the dev’s commits over a timeline to different issues. If a developer makes sporadic contributions to various issues, it may be indicative of frequent context switching during a sprint. To mitigate this issue, it is advisable to balance and rebalance the assignment of issues evenly and encourage the team to avoid multitasking by focusing on one task at a time. This approach can help reduce coding time.
Set goals for the work at risk where the rule of thumb is keeping the PR with less than 100 code changes & refactor size as above 50%.
To achieve the team goal of reducing coding time, real-time Slack alerts can be utilised to notify the team of work at risk when large and heavily revised PRs are published. By using these alerts, it is possible to identify and address issues, story-points, or branches that are too extensive in scope and require breaking down.
To manage workloads and assignments effectively, it is recommended to develop a habit of regularly reviewing the Insights tab, and identifying long PRs on a weekly or even daily basis. Additionally, examining each team member's workload can provide valuable insights. By using this data collaboratively with the team, it becomes possible to allocate resources more effectively and manage workloads more efficiently.
Using a framework, such as React or Angular, can help reduce coding time by providing pre-built components and libraries that can be easily integrated into the application
Reusing code that has already been written can help reduce coding time by eliminating the need to write code from scratch. This can be achieved by using code libraries, modules, and templates.
Rapid prototyping involves creating a quick and simple version of the application to test its functionality and usability. This can help reduce coding time by allowing developers to quickly identify and address any issues with the application.
Agile methodologies, such as Scrum and Kanban, emphasize continuous delivery and feedback, which can help reduce coding time by allowing developers to focus on delivering small, incremental improvements to the application
Pair programming involves two developers working together on the same code at the same time. This can help reduce coding time by allowing developers to collaborate and share ideas, which can lead to faster problem-solving and more efficient coding.
Optimizing coding time, a key component of the overall cycle time enhances development efficiency and accelerates project delivery. By focusing on reducing coding time, software development teams can streamline their workflows and achieve quicker feedback loops. This leads to a more efficient development process and timely project completions. Implementing strategies such as dividing tasks into smaller segments, clarifying requirements, minimizing multitasking, and using effective tools and methodologies can significantly improve both coding time and cycle time.
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