January 2014

  1. Home
  2. Monthly archive
  3. January 2014

January 2014

New Article: Project Clairvoyance

January 30th, 2014 by Elisabeth Pendergrass

Software Project Clairvoyance Article

Can advances in data-driven estimation turn software project failure into a distant memory? Well, if learning from experience is the key to success, imagine what you could do with real-time access to three decades of research, thousands of projects and more than 600 industry trends. In this article, originally published on Projects at Work, QSM's Larry Putnam, Jr. identifies key benefits of employing estimation best practices for project success.

As Co-CEO for QSM, Larry Putnam, Jr.'s has more than 25 years of experience in software measurement, estimating and project control. He joined QSM in 1987 and has worked in every aspect of the business, including business development, customer support, professional services and now executive management.

Read the full article!

Blog Post Categories 
Estimation Articles Project Management

Ask Carol: Collecting Metrics Willy-Nilly Doesn't Make Sense

January 23rd, 2014 by Carol Dekkers

QSM hosts a free advice column for software professionals who seek help to solve project management, communication and general software project issues. Carol Dekkers is a QSM consultant and IT measurement and project management expert who speaks internationally on topics related to software development. Send your questions to Ask Carol!

Dear Carol: 

My manager frequently says “You can’t manage what you can’t measure” and then tells us to collect more and more metrics, willy-nilly. We’ve done this for years now and it just doesn’t seem to make sense to collect all this data that’s never used, when we’ve got better things to do like developing software. What can we do to make him stop this unproductive exercise?

– Over Metricated

Dear Over: 

 This is a common situation in software development: management pursuit of metrics without a clear plan to use them.

The “you can’t manage what you can’t measure” is a paraphrase of Tom DeMarco’s quote, “You can't manage what you can't control, and you can't control what you don't measure.”1 What is interesting is that DeMarco’s follow-up quote 13 years later is seldom cited: “Metrics cost a ton of money. It costs a lot to collect them badly and a lot more to collect them well... At its best... metrics can inform and guide developers, and help organizations to improve.  At its worst, it can do actual harm… And there is an entire range between the two extremes...”2 

Blog Post Categories 
Metrics

Ask Carol: What's the Point of Estimating?

January 15th, 2014 by Carol Dekkers

QSM hosts a free advice column for software professionals who seek help to solve project management, communication and general software project issues. Carol Dekkers is a QSM consultant and IT measurement and project management expert who speaks internationally on topics related to software development. Send your questions to Ask Carol!

Dear Carol: 

I’ve been a member of many software development teams and I simply don’t understand the point of doing early project estimates before we know what are the requirements. It just causes problems once the project starts because the estimate becomes the budget and drives the schedule. Obviously, the estimates are wrong because they are based on flawed/incomplete data, so why would anyone even bother doing an estimate when the budget and schedule go awry as soon as the project starts? Estimates cause management and project managers to “stress out” trying to meet an artificial date and budget – we ought to abandon estimates and just get to work on the project! What am I missing here? 

- Looking for answers     

Dear Looking:

You’re not the first person to question the point of estimating before requirements are known; it can seem futile when it seems that they turn into budgets and schedules.  Even though there is uncertainty (and risk) with early estimates, there are reasons that companies do early estimates:

Blog Post Categories 
Estimation Ask Carol

Ask Carol: Sizing Alternatives When Cost Is an Issue

January 9th, 2014 by Carol Dekkers

QSM hosts a free advice column for software professionals who seek help to solve project management, communication and general software project issues. Carol Dekkers is a QSM consultant and IT measurement and project management expert who speaks internationally on topics related to software development. Send your questions to Ask Carol!

Hi Carol:

Thanks for this excellent initiative. One of my key clients is planning to move away from FP counting as they think it’s expensive, takes time, does not measure non-functional work and also they do not want to invest in auditing the FP results. Instead, they are considering using LOC. We have tried explaining them all the shortcoming of LOC but no use. In fact we advised them to use SNAP along with FP but looks like they are just focusing on cost!

In your article on 'Size Matters', I noticed you had mentioned few other techniques to measure size like RICE Objects and Implementation Units. Would like to learn more about these and would like to understand if these are industry standards. Can you please share some insights?

– Sizing Enthusiast

Dear Sizing:

Because you are someone who knows the value of functional sizing (aka function points,) it is frustrating when management focuses on the cost of measurement rather than the value delivered.  I’m wondering whether there is a disconnect between the perceived value and the cost of FP counting. There are a couple of potential issues here that I’d like you to consider before we get into the sizing alternatives

Blog Post Categories 
Sizing Ask Carol