Importance-performance matrix analysis

Importance-performance matrix analysis (IPMA) is a technique for analyzing and visualizing data to help inform decisions on where to focus.

IPMA is widely used in marketing research and can be a powerful tool for determining investments in improving developer experience.

IPMA typically looks like the chart below, where performance is plotted along one axis and importance on the other.

Performance and importance can mean different things depending on the context. For developer productivity metrics, performance refers to a specific metric while importance is based on statistical regression using PLS or Pearson’s.

Interpreting an IPMA chart can be tricky. Generally, you want to focus first on items plotted in or near the bottom-right quadrant: these are your highest-importance and lowest-performing areas.

But as with any statistical analysis, it’s important to be mindful that numbers are only that. Decisions should be made based on evaluations of feasibility, business goals, and further investigation of causality.

DX provides IPMA charts to help organizations determine how to improve their DX KPIs: speed, ease, and quality. Our feature was inspired by Dr. Nicole Forsgren from our team who suggested the idea based on her experience using IPMA to analyze DORA survey assessments.