IT Score for Software

Engineering Leaders
Software Engineering Leadership
Research Team
IT Score for Software Engineering Leaders
Published 17 August 2021 - ID G00757386 - 2 min read
By Analyst(s): Software Engineering Leadership Research Team
Initiatives: Software Engineering Strategies

Assess software engineering in the enterprise and how well

software engineering leaders perform in their role. Take this
assessment to get a baseline of leadership’s contribution to
software delivery, and build a roadmap to improve the
effectiveness of software engineering in realizing enterprise goals.

Overview
The IT Score for Software Engineering Leaders is a strategic planning and improvement
tool for software engineering leaders and their teams. Watch this brief overview video to
learn more.

This tool will help you in the following areas:

■ Build and manage delivery teams — This section assesses software engineering
leadership’s developing workforce strategy, structuring and resourcing teams,
developing and managing talent, and building and sustaining team culture.

■ Deliver products — This section assesses designing portfolios, developing product

visions and roadmaps, measuring outcomes, and building relationships.

■ Govern Processes — This section assesses managing work, defining architecture,

defining architectures, designing software and creating software.

■ Manage pipeline — This section assesses driving testing and quality, delivering
secure apps and infrastructure, automating build/configuration/deployment, and
enabling data-driven decisions.

Gartner, Inc. | G00757386 Page 1 of 4

What It Is
The IT Score for Software Engineering Leaders measures performance across four
objectives and 16 key management activities that comprehensively represent the scope of
activities for the typical software engineering function. Refer to the functional activity map
below for a view of what IT Score for Software Engineering Leaders encompasses. When
you set up an assessment, you can choose to complete all or a subset of the activities.

Figure 1: Functional Activity Map for IT Score for Software Engineering Leaders

Gartner

The IT Score for Software Engineering Leaders asks you to provide input on maturity and
importance to gain perspective on your highest-priority activities.

Maturity

Measured on a scale ranging from 1 (low) to 5 (high), maturity measures how advanced
an activity is relative to our best-practice research.

Importance

Measured on a scale ranging from 1 (unimportant) to 5 (critical) based on participants’

input, importance measures how important each activity is to the overall effectiveness of
[function] in meeting its objectives.

Gartner, Inc. | G00757386 Page 2 of 4

Prioritization

Activity priority index (API) identifies the activities that should be prioritized for improving
maturity. It is calculated as follows: API = (Importance minus Maturity) x Importance. A
higher API signals a greater priority for improvement.

What You Get

Summary of Results

Receive an in-depth report covering:

■ Your current maturity level for each functional activity and an overall maturity score

■ A detailed analysis determining which activities you should prioritize for

improvement

■ A path to maturity for each activity linking you to specific, actionable insight on how
to improve

Download Sample Report

Personal Walk-Through

Save time interpreting the report with a results walk-through and action-planning guidance
from a service partner, as available per your service.

Recommended by the Authors

 The Gartner Score Diagnostic Family

How Gartner Score Helps You Assess Maturity and Prioritize Improvements

Leadership Vision for 2022: Software Engineering

How Software Engineering Leaders Can Overcome the 4 Key Packaged Business
Application Challenges

How Software Engineering Leaders Can Mitigate Software Supply Chain Security Risks

Gartner, Inc. | G00757386 Page 3 of 4

What Software Engineering Leaders Are Asking About: Software Engineering
Technologies, 4Q20

How Software Engineering Leaders Can Use Value Stream Metrics to Improve Agile
Effectiveness

Proven Strategies to Drive Software Engineering Team Effectiveness

Top 10 Things Software Engineering Leaders Need to Know About APIs

Software Engineering Strategies Primer for 2021

Quick Answer: How Do We Build Psychological Safety in Our Software Engineering

Teams?

Hype Cycle for Software Engineering, 2021

Cool Vendors for Software Engineering Technologies

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third party. For further information, see "Guiding Principles on Independence and Objectivity."

Gartner, Inc. | G00757386 Page 4 of 4

Actionable, objective insight
Position your organization for success. Explore these additional
complimentary resources and tools for Software Engineering Leaders:

Research Research
Top 3 Strategic Priorities for Upskill Software Developers
Software Engineering Leaders Six-point plan for building software
Top-level guidance to leaders and developer skills
their teams on where to focus

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