Tracking the Evolution of Object-Oriented Quality Metrics on Agile Projects

The automated collection of source code metrics can help agile teams to understand the software they are producing, allowing them to adapt their daily practices towards an environment of continuous improvement. This paper describes the evolution of some object-oriented metrics in several agile projects we conducted recently in both academic and governmental environments. We analyze seven different projects, some where agile methods were used since the beginning and others where some agile practices were introduced later. We analyze and compare the evolution of such metrics in these projects and evaluate how the different project context factors have impacted the source code.