Code Climate’s Velocity

disclaimer: this is not a sponsored post; I just find this tool extremely useful

Some measurement is required to help improve a team’s software development processes.

Cycle time[¹] through data about PRs, code reviews, and languages isn’t new but challenging to access. Many teams depend on scripts to add data in a way that makes sense. Maintaining these scripts is costly and error-prone.

Velocity is a new type of code metric tool developed by Code climate. It uses concrete data from GitHub to help the team find bottlenecks. Help drive continuous improvement, and promote data-backed understanding.

Unfortunately, Coding meta-data can be abused or gamed.

The moment a measure becomes a goal, it ceases to be a good measure. — Kent Beck

Teams should use this information for good, to help engineers grow, and to prevent misuse and misunderstanding of this data. At the same time, it can also be used to reduce bias, help teams work together effectively, and support each other goals.

Velocity cannot capture engineers’ work outside of coding and related activities. Data is a great starting point for a conversation, but it does not tell the whole story. These activities might include design documents, organizing internal learning sessions, managing projects, etc.

Velocity makes accessing, visualizing, and understanding coding meta-data easier and accessible to everyone, helping promote a more transparent and collaborative environment.

-

[¹]: Cycle time — Measures the time it takes from working on a feature until it has been shipped and provides customer value.