Why do programmers avoid metrics?

Software process improvement initiatives such as metrics programs have a high failure rate during their assimilation in a software organization. Social and organizational issues are some of the factors affecting the adoption and acceptance of metrics, and these issues have not been discussed in detail in existing metrics literature. We undertook an interview-based study with the purpose of studying factors that influence the buy-in of metrics. We interviewed 12 members of the metrics team of a large multi-national corporation, with a thriving metrics program. We found that there was some resistance to standardization of corporate metrics processes introduced by the metrics team. This resistance centered on the metrics data collection and reporting processes. One cause of resistance was the presence of sub-cultures and native data collection and reporting processes within organizational units that were independent businesses before they were acquired. Some of the pushback manifested itself through begrudging compliance, and avoidance activities like scripting and gaming of metrics. In this paper, we present the perspectives of developers, managers and upper-level management to emphasize that each stakeholder in the metrics initiative has a valid viewpoint that should be taken into account while implementing a metrics program and that each metrics effort is inextricably enmeshed with the organizational context. We provide actionable recommendations to understand the different perspectives and to adapt the metrics effort accordingly.