The ROI of Investments in Lean Agile Software Development Training

This paper investigates whether investments in lean agile software development training increase software development productivity and produce commensurate improvements in financial performance of the software development firm. Two experiments involving software development teams were conducted using treatment and control groups. In the first experiment, the treatment group received a multi-day lean agile development retraining exercise designed to enhance existing skills. Cycle time, the average number of days to complete a story, decreased 81% for those retrained compared to a 23% reduction for the control group, resulting in a net 58% point reduction in cycle time and a 40% reduction in development costs. There were similar improvements in throughput, flow efficiency and WIP, all measurements of productivity. In the second experiment, a treatment group received monthly coaching for a three-month period. In the coaching experiment, the treatment group realized a 52% decrease in cycle time compared to a 15% decrease for the control group, realizing a 37% point net reduction in cycle time and a 17% reduction in development costs. Again, there were comparable improvements in other productivity measures. This analysis uses productivity and financial metrics typically associated with manufacture of tangible products, uniquely applying these measures to intangible software products