In an Agile environment, which benefit of static testing directly applies to increased team velocity?

The benefit of static testing that directly applies to increased team velocity is increasing development productivity. In an Agile environment, teams focus on delivering working software quickly and efficiently. Static testing techniques, such as reviews and inspections, help identify defects early in the development process before the code is executed. This early detection allows developers to correct issues at a lower cost and with less effort, which can lead to faster turnaround times for feature development.

By catching defects early and ensuring that the code meets the necessary quality standards before it progresses further in the development cycle, teams can avoid the time-consuming process of fixing issues later in the workflow. This increased level of productivity means that the team can focus more on developing new features and less on rework, ultimately enhancing the overall team velocity in delivering value to stakeholders.

In contrast, while other options may touch on relevant concepts, they do not directly contribute to increasing team velocity as effectively as enhanced development productivity. Reducing testing cost and total cost of quality focus on economic aspects rather than the efficiency of development processes, while increasing total cost of quality does not align with the goal of improving team velocity.