On evaluating the efficiency of software feature development using algebraic manifolds

Managers are often unable to explain objectively why or when effort was misplaced during the development process. In this paper, we present a formal technique to depict the expended effort during the life-cycle of a software feature using feature development manifolds (FDMs). Using the FDMs we can compute the preferred development path for a given feature. This development path includes the versions of a software feature that contributed to the final version of the feature in a positive way. The preferred development path excludes versions of the software feature that should have been skipped. Once the preferred development path is computed the amount of wasted effort can be quantified using the metric that we have developed. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach to compute wasted software feature development by applying our technique to two large open source software systems, Gaim and Firefox.