The SPACE framework provides a balanced view of developer productivity by measuring five complementary dimensions. CompassHQ includes a ready-made SPACE survey template so you can start collecting meaningful data without designing questions from scratch.
What SPACE Covers
Each dimension captures a different aspect of how your teams work:
- Satisfaction — How fulfilled developers feel with their work, tools, and team culture. Low satisfaction often predicts attrition before it shows up in other metrics.
- Performance — Self-assessed output quality and impact. This captures whether engineers feel their work is moving the needle on product goals.
- Activity — Perceived workload and volume of tasks. Helps surface teams that may be overburdened or context-switching too frequently.
- Communication — Quality of collaboration within and across teams. Measures whether information flows smoothly or gets stuck in silos.
- Efficiency — How easily developers can get things done. Highlights friction in tooling, CI/CD pipelines, code review processes, and other day-to-day workflows.
Using the Template
- Go to Surveys > Create Survey and select the SPACE Framework template.
- Review the pre-built questions. Each dimension includes two to three Likert-scale items and one optional free-text prompt.
- Customize wording if needed, or add questions specific to your organization.
- Set your target audience and schedule. A quarterly cadence works well for tracking trends without survey fatigue.
- Click Publish to send the survey.
Interpreting Results
After responses come in, CompassHQ displays a radar chart showing scores across all five dimensions. Look for:
- Dimension imbalances — A team with high Activity but low Efficiency may be busy but blocked by tooling or process issues.
- Quarter-over-quarter shifts — Improving Communication scores after introducing cross-team syncs validates the change.
- Team comparisons — Filter results by team to spot groups that may need additional support in specific areas.
Use these insights alongside your DORA and delivery metrics for a complete picture of engineering health.