Software Project Managers' Perceptions of Productivity Factors: Findings from a Qualitative Study

Abstract

Context -- Developers' productivity plays an important role in software development organizations; however, in many cases the management of such human capital is mainly based on how project managers perceive productivity. Therefore, it is important to investigate what these perceptions are in practice. Goal -- This study's main goal is to understand project managers' perception regarding developers' productivity. Method -- We employed a qualitative research methodology using semi-structured interviews for data collection. We interviewed 12 managers from three software development organizations in the city of Manaus (Brazil). Results -- We identified that the managers' perceptions about developers' productivity are influenced by four different factors: (1) tasks delivered on time, (2) produced artifacts that do not need rework, (3) products that meet stakeholders' expectations, and (4) personal behavior such as focus and proactivity. Conclusions -- This qualitative study shows a perception of developers' productivity different from that presented in other research papers, and suggests that human factors play an important role in managers' perceptions about productivity. Future work will investigate how these perceptions concretely influence developers' productivity, and how they relate to the existing developers' productivity factors in the literature.