Practical Software Estimation Measurement

Updated Performance Benchmark Table

The latest version of QSM’s Performance Benchmark Table is live!

QSM is excited to announce the release of their latest version of the Performance Benchmark Table.  Last updated in 2009, the table provides a high-level reference for benchmarking and estimating IT, Engineering, and Real Time Systems.  It displays industry average duration, effort, staff, and SLOC (or FP) per Person Month for the full range of project sizes encompassed by each trend group. 

The results were analyzed from a database of 1,115 high or moderate confidence projects completed between 2008 and 2012.  Sixteen countries and 52 different languages were represented in this sample.  In addition to the industry average, minimum and maximum values were also provided for each metric to help give a range of possible results.

The project sizes differed somewhat from the previous version to accommodate the new range of sizes present in the data.  Rather than using the same project sizes across trend groups, we selected project sizes specific to each trend.  Since Business projects are typically smaller than Engineering or Real Time projects, this allows readers to select a size relevant to the type of project they’re estimating or benchmarking.  

This tool can be particularly useful to developers and/ or project managers who are new to estimation or do not have historical project data.  

“We wanted to give people an opportunity to get a quick and dirty comparison for productivity and schedule performance,” said Doug Putnam, Co-Chief Executive Officer for QSM.  “We think it can be a really good resource for early project negotiations to identify wildly unrealistic expectations.” 

While the Performance Benchmark Table is provided free of charge, QSM also provides custom benchmark services to give a more in-depth analysis of your organization’s projects and how they compare to the industry.

Visit the new Performance Benchmark Table!

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Benchmarking Estimation