Research
What actually makes software teams faster
Doctoral research on software team efficiency, translated into operational playbooks for the people who have to ship.
The question
Why do some engineering teams keep delivering as they grow while others slow down with every hire?
My Doctorate in Business Administration focused on software team efficiency and organizational performance. Dissertation Research: How Collaboration and Customer Responsiveness Drive Business Success in 2023 from Drexel University.
My doctoral research at Drexel University explored a fundamental question facing modern organizations: What separates high-performing teams and successful products from those that struggle to gain traction? Through quantitative analysis of thousands of open-source software projects and their development teams, I examined how leadership, internal collaboration, customer engagement, and organizational responsiveness influence product adoption and long-term success. My findings demonstrated that organizations benefit not simply from innovating faster, but from creating environments where employees feel empowered to contribute ideas, customers are actively involved in shaping solutions, and feedback is translated into meaningful action. Particularly compelling was the importance of engaging forward-thinking customers, responding quickly to their needs, and maintaining transparent communication about future improvements. The research also revealed that strong internal collaboration and consistent product improvements are associated with greater market adoption. These insights extend beyond software development, offering a practical framework for leaders seeking to build more effective teams, accelerate innovation, strengthen customer relationships, and create sustainable competitive advantages. My work bridges academic research and real-world business leadership, helping organizations turn collaboration, technology, and customer insights into measurable results.
The goal of this page is simple: make that research useful to leaders who do not have time to read a dissertation.
Most team productivity advice ignores empirical data. I would rather show you the data.
Where I look first
Four places throughput hides
When a team slows down, the cause is rarely effort. It is usually one of these.
Communication overhead
Every new person adds paths between people. Past a point, coordination costs more than the extra hands deliver.
Cycle time bottlenecks
Work waits far longer than it is worked on. Finding the queue matters more than speeding up the coder.
Feedback loops
The longer it takes to learn a change was wrong, the more expensive every change becomes.
Ownership and governance
Clear ownership and simple release rules remove the friction that meetings try to manage.
Questions leaders ask
Can you measure team efficiency without micromanaging engineers?
Yes. The useful measures are about flow through the system, such as cycle time, wait states and rework, not about individual output. Commit counts tell you very little.
Should we hire more engineers to go faster?
Sometimes, but rarely first. Adding people to a constrained system usually slows it down before it speeds it up. Find and fix the constraint, then decide on headcount.
Where can I read the full research?
[CONFIRM: link to the dissertation or a published summary, if Ken wants it public.]
Want the research applied to your team?
A short conversation is enough to tell whether a team efficiency review would help.