Software Development Waste Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic: an Industry Study.

Development of software products can often result in generation of Software Development Waste (SDW). For example, developers may possibly need to rework implementations that cater to ambiguous feature stories. COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the way software development teams operate worldwide. We studied the impact of pandemic enforced work-from-home situation (PWS) on generation of SDW. As a part of a multi-year study, we surveyed 615 participants and interviewed 31 from the software industry across eight countries specializing in various domains. We observed a rise in SDWs, and were able to identify new type of SDW, and other wastes that could be reclassified into existing types of wastes.