Practical Software Measurement

On Thursday, February 16, 2012 1:00 PM PM EST, QSM will co-host "Shifting to Agile Methods - The Keys for Long-Term Success" together with Accurev.

Changes to the software development process, such as moving toward Agile methods, must demonstrate sustainable results over time versus just short-term wins.  There are two keys to reaching long-term success that should be considered up front – the new process must be repeatable and measurable. 

In this session, AccuRev’s Chris Lucca and QSM’s Larry Putnam, Jr. will explore these two keys to success.  

This is the second post in a three part investigation of how team size affects project performance, cost, quality, and productivity. Part one looked at cost and schedule performance for Best in Class and Worst in Class IT projects. For this study, Best in Class projects were those that delivered more than one standard deviation faster, but used more than one standard deviation less effort than the industry average for projects of the same size. A key characteristic of these top performing projects was the use of small teams: median team size for best in class projects was 4 FTEs (full time equivalent) people versus 17 FTEs for the worst performers.

Last week, Carl Erickson of Atomic Spin referenced a study performed by Doug Putnam several years ago:

A study done by consultancy QSM in 2005 seems to indicate that smaller teams are more efficient than larger teams. Not just a little more efficient, but dramatically more efficient. QSM maintains a database of 4000+ projects. For this study they looked at 564 information systems projects done since 2002. (The author of the study claims their data for real-time embedded systems projects showed similar results.) They divided the data into “small” teams (less than 5 people) and “large” teams (greater than 20 people).

We are pleased to announce that QSM has received four "Exceptional" ratings from the Army Contractor Performance Assessment Report (CPAR). A CPAR assessment is based on objective facts and supported by program and contract management data, such as cost performance reports, customer comments, quality reviews, and earned contract incentives. The Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) is the Department of Defense (DoD) Enterprise Solution for collection of contractor Past Performance Information (PPI) as required by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).

Paul Below will be presenting "Optimal Project Performance: Factors that Influence Project Duration" at the 2012 Better Software West Conference on Thursday, June 14 at 4:00 PM.

We are pleased to announce that the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Cost and Economics (ODASA-CE) has contracted QSM to provide a comprehensive cost methodology, which includes tools, consulting support, and on-site training. This contract is a continuation of a successful working relationship between QSM and the Army that began in 2004. With the new contract, QSM will be providing estimation assistance on major ACAT 1 programs (major acquisition programs).  QSM will also help establish a metrics database with software data from the Defense and Cost Research Center (DCARC) and from DASA-CE data collection efforts. This database will be used for program analysis and evaluation. 

Read the full press release here.

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."

-  Albert Einstein

How’s your software measurement program doing?  Is it well funded and supported by management, or do you worry about your job the next time the organization decides it needs to be “leaner and meaner”?  Many measurement programs are cancelled or fade into meaningless obscurity.  Why?  Some things are out of your control; but here are a few that will improve your odds for success:

We’ve all heard the cliché, "Work smarter not harder."  In an article he wrote for ACM’s Communications magazine, Phil Armour wonders, “If we were smart enough to do that, wouldn’t we already be doing it?” Sometimes we simply don’t know how to work smarter.  But sometimes we don’t work smarter because we choose ... or are not allowed to do things right the first time. 

Abraham Lincoln said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”  Sharpening our axe requires several things:

Software is everywhere in modern life - from automobiles, airplanes, utilities, banks, to complex systems and global communications networks. They run the gamut from tiny applets that comprise just a handful of instructions to giant systems running millions of lines of code that take years to build.

Software professionals are at the front lines of this information revolution.  This post addresses Frequently Asked Questions about measuring the size of software applications after they’re finished and estimating the work for a project that has yet to be started. We hope it will help software professionals do a better job of describing what they are building for their companies as software continues to grow in strategic importance to our companies and to our daily lives.

Question:  What do we mean by the term, “Software Size”

QSM has been collaborating with Forrester Research on a report focused on the current state of Agile development. Prior Forrester data shows an adoption rate of about 38% among developers in 2010 and continuous growth YoY in the last three years. However few have really scaled it to the enterprise level. Have you?

To get a better data representation, we encourage to participate in this survey. Tell us about your current and future Agile development plans. This survey will ask questions like: