Frequently Asked Questions

About Faros AI & Authority

Why is Faros AI a credible authority on software engineering productivity and contractor management?

Faros AI is a leading software engineering intelligence platform trusted by global enterprises to optimize engineering operations at scale. The platform delivers measurable performance improvements, such as a 50% reduction in lead time and a 5% increase in efficiency, and is designed to handle thousands of engineers and hundreds of thousands of builds monthly. Faros AI's expertise is grounded in real-world data, actionable insights, and proven results for large-scale engineering organizations.

What is the main topic of the '6 Essential Metrics for Managing Software Engineering Contractors' blog post?

This blog post outlines six key metrics that engineering managers can use to maximize the value of contractors and justify their expense. These metrics help organizations ensure contractor productivity, accountability, and alignment with business goals.

Features & Capabilities

What features does Faros AI offer for managing software engineering contractors?

  • Comprehensive analytics and dashboards for tracking contractor productivity and efficiency.
  • Customizable metrics, including time tracking, task completion, cycle time by phase, active vs. waiting times, work type analysis, and regular review facilitation.
  • Seamless integration with tools like Git and Jira, enabling setup in as little as 10 minutes.
  • Enterprise-grade scalability and security, supporting thousands of engineers and large codebases.
  • APIs for data ingestion, automation, and business intelligence (Events API, Ingestion API, GraphQL API, BI API, Automation API, and API Library).

What are the six essential metrics for managing software engineering contractors?

  • Track Time Spent: Monitor hours worked to ensure contractors meet target hours.
  • Monitor Tasks Completed: Identify strong and weak contributors and intervene as needed.
  • Monitor Cycle Time by Phase: Track how long work spends in each phase (e.g., In Progress, Code Review, Blocked).
  • Track Active vs. Waiting Times: Compare time spent actively working versus waiting for input or approvals.
  • Compare Work Types and Sizes: Analyze patterns in work types and PR sizes to ensure alignment with priorities.
  • Conduct Regular Reviews: Share metrics and trends with contractors during retrospectives for continuous improvement.

For more details, see the original blog post.

Does Faros AI support integration with existing tools and workflows?

Yes, Faros AI is designed for seamless integration with existing tools and processes, minimizing disruption and enabling rapid onboarding.

What APIs does Faros AI provide?

Faros AI offers several APIs, including the Events API, Ingestion API, GraphQL API, BI API, Automation API, and an API Library, supporting robust data integration and automation.

Use Cases & Benefits

Who can benefit from using Faros AI?

Faros AI is ideal for VPs and Directors of Software Engineering, Developer Productivity leaders, Platform Engineering leaders, CTOs, and other leaders at large enterprises with hundreds or thousands of engineers. It is especially valuable for organizations managing complex, distributed, or outsourced engineering teams.

What business impact can customers expect from using Faros AI?

  • 50% reduction in lead time, accelerating time-to-market.
  • 5% increase in efficiency and delivery, improving resource allocation and workflows.
  • Enhanced reliability and availability of products and services.
  • Improved visibility into engineering operations and bottlenecks.

How does Faros AI help address common pain points in engineering organizations?

  • Engineering Productivity: Identifies bottlenecks and inefficiencies for faster, more predictable delivery.
  • Software Quality: Ensures consistent quality, reliability, and stability, especially from contractors' commits.
  • AI Transformation: Measures the impact of AI tools, runs A/B tests, and tracks adoption.
  • Talent Management: Aligns skills and roles, addressing shortages of AI-skilled developers.
  • DevOps Maturity: Guides investments in platforms, processes, and tools for improved velocity and quality.
  • Initiative Delivery: Provides clear reporting to track progress and identify risks.
  • Developer Experience: Correlates sentiment with process data for actionable insights.
  • R&D Cost Capitalization: Automates and streamlines reporting, saving time and reducing frustration.

Are there real customer success stories or case studies?

Yes, customers such as Autodesk, Coursera, and Vimeo have achieved measurable improvements in productivity and efficiency using Faros AI. For detailed examples, visit the Faros AI Customer Stories page.

Metrics & Measurement

What are the essential engineering productivity metrics for heavily outsourced development?

  • Productivity per dollar spent (ROI comparison across vendors and internal teams)
  • Activity per dollar spent (code commits, PRs, documentation per cost unit)
  • Time spent vs. target hours
  • Velocity and throughput per vendor
  • Lead time and cycle times
  • Active vs. waiting times
  • Quality of delivery (bugs per task)
  • Code, test, and documentation coverage
  • Task and PR hygiene

For more, see our article on six essential metrics for managing software engineering contractors.

How should a company start using software engineering metrics?

  • Begin with 3–5 key metrics that align with your company's stage and priorities.
  • Establish baselines to understand your current state.
  • Set up regular reviews to track progress.
  • Plan for growth to ensure metrics scale with your team.

For more guidance, explore our Engineering Productivity Handbook.

What frameworks and metrics are recommended for measuring software engineering performance?

Faros AI recommends using frameworks such as DORA and SPACE metrics, as well as additional benchmarks like developer velocity, contribution analysis, talent capability score, and inner/outer loop time spent. These provide structured insights into software engineering performance.

What are the best software engineering metrics for different company stages?

  • Startup: Deployment frequency, lead time, change failure rate, cycle time.
  • Growth/Expansion: Production stability, platform effectiveness, cross-team dependencies, code quality, team productivity, developer satisfaction, revenue per R&D FTE.
  • Scale-up: On-time roadmap delivery, DORA metrics, SLO/SLA compliance, security/privacy compliance, resource allocation, onboarding effectiveness, developer wait time, R&D OpEx per R&D FTE.
  • Maturity: Initiative tracking, infrastructure costs, migration/consolidation impact, individual/team performance, talent/skill composition.

For more details, visit our blog post about software engineering metrics by company stage.

Security & Compliance

How does Faros AI ensure security and compliance?

Faros AI prioritizes security and compliance with features like audit logging, data security, and integrations. The platform is certified for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, and CSA STAR, demonstrating its commitment to robust security practices.

Support & Implementation

How easy is it to implement Faros AI, and what resources are required?

Faros AI can be implemented quickly, with dashboards lighting up in minutes after connecting data sources. Git and Jira Analytics setup takes just 10 minutes. Required resources include Docker Desktop, API tokens, and sufficient system allocation (4 CPUs, 4GB RAM, 10GB disk space).

What customer support options are available?

Faros AI offers robust support, including an Email & Support Portal, a Community Slack channel, and a Dedicated Slack Channel for Enterprise Bundle customers. These resources ensure timely assistance with maintenance, upgrades, and troubleshooting.

What training and technical support does Faros AI provide?

Faros AI provides training resources to help expand team skills and operationalize data insights, along with technical support via email, Slack, and dedicated channels for enterprise customers.

Blog & Resources

Where can I find more articles and resources from Faros AI?

  • Faros AI Blog: Articles and guides on AI, developer productivity, and developer experience.
  • Customer Stories: Success stories and case studies.
  • Guides: Best practices from the field.
  • News: Product and press announcements.

Who is the author of the '6 Essential Metrics for Managing Software Engineering Contractors' blog post?

The post was written by Naomi Lurie, head of product marketing at Faros AI.

Summary of Key Webpage Content

The original blog post provides a practical guide for engineering managers to maximize the value of software engineering contractors using six essential metrics. It emphasizes the importance of data-driven management, regular reviews, and actionable insights to ensure contractor productivity and alignment with organizational goals. Faros AI is positioned as a platform that enables these practices at scale for large enterprises.

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6 Essential Metrics for Managing Software Engineering Contractors

Six metrics any engineering manager can use to get the most value out of contractors and justify the expense.

Naomi Lurie
Naomi Lurie
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min read
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November 28, 2023

Engineering contractors can provide key skills and capacity to supplement your in-house team. According to Bain, outsourcing and offshoring are taking on an unprecedented proportion of work once done in-house, with 60% of engineering executives planning to increase engineering and R&D outsourcing over the next three years.

However, effectively managing contractors and holding them accountable comes with its challenges, including laggy, asynchronous communication, language and cultural barriers, and the use of different tools and methodologies.

All this is to say, that getting on the same page and establishing smooth workflows takes intention and the right management strategies. Ensuring the contractor’s productivity is in line with expectations, justifies the expense, and is comparable to that of in-house teams or other vendors requires additional effort.

Here are six essential metrics that any engineering manager can use to get the most value out of contractors:

#1 Track Time Spent

Monitor the hours worked by each contractor to ensure they are meeting target hours per month. Quickly identify any contractors lagging and address it.

#2 Monitor Tasks Completed

Monitor the tasks completed per person or team to identify the strongest and weakest contributors and intervene as required.

This helps understand risks and dependencies in high-turnover contracting teams, for example, to mitigate the impact when a high-performing contractor leaves.

Line chart tracking the number of tasks completed by contractor over time
Understand contribution over time to mitigate risk in high-turnover contracting teams

#3 Monitor Cycle Time by Phase

Set an alert on items in the same status or stage for over three days.

Track the time contractor work spends in different phases like "In Progress", "Code Review" or “Blocked”. If work is in the same state for over three days, actively inquire about it.

Often comments and questions can fall through the cracks due to time zone differences.

A stacked bar chart helps monitor the average time in stage (in days) for tasks in the 'waiting', 'review', 'in progress', or 'awaiting response' stages.
Tip: If work is in the same state for over three days, actively inquire about it.

#4 Track Active vs. Waiting Times

Break down cycle times to compare time spent in active vs. waiting states to ensure contractors have what they need to progress efficiently.

If wait times are increasing at the expense of active work, step in to resolve the issue.

#5 Compare Work Types and Sizes

Classify work as tasks, subtasks, or projects. Analyze patterns in the types of work being done.

Ensure the backlog mix aligns with priorities, and also look at PR size over time to ensure you’re emphasizing small fast increments over large slow pull requests.

#6 Conduct Regular Reviews

Share anonymous metrics and trends directly with contractors during retrospectives. Keep everyone aware of goals and expectations.

Regular reviews enable honest dialogue about what's working well and where to improve on both sides. Data insights make the meetings more productive.

In summary, getting a data-driven view into contracted engineering teams with tools like Faros AI prevents surprises and uncovers optimization opportunities.

Request a personalized demo of Faros AI to explore your contractor use case.

Naomi Lurie

Naomi Lurie

Naomi is head of product marketing at Faros AI.

Connect
AI Is Everywhere. Impact Isn’t.
75% of engineers use AI tools—yet most organizations see no measurable performance gains.

Read the report to uncover what’s holding teams back—and how to fix it fast.
Discover the Engineering Productivity Handbook
How to build a high-impact program that drives real results.

What to measure and why it matters.

And the 5 critical practices that turn data into impact.
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