Best Practices In Software Measurement

Practical approach to software measurement Contains hands-on industry experiences

The first section defines exactly what I mean by the term ?Software Metrics? and introduces the reader to the domain of Software Metrics by discussing the need for a measurement-based approach to the management of software engineering. This first section then, for reasons which will become obvious, looks at a particular measurement technique ? Function Point Analysis ? before discussing specific areas of application for Software Metrics.The second section is really the core of the book. This section describes an approach to the development and implementation of Software Metrics initiatives. Essentially, the approach centers around a model that breaks the work into a number of stages. This division of labor into phases is, of course, nothing more than the way in which most successful projects are handled; it is what makes up those stages that I hope will be found beneficial.The third section is a collection of chapters that belong in this book, but do not sit naturally in either of the other two sections. Here we visit the topics that seem to be generating discussion today and we will also look at some topics that may be key issues in the near future. Appendices and references are also provided.

Teaching software professionals how to combine assessments (qualitative information) and benchmarking (quantitative information) this text aims to encourage better software analysis.

Winner of the Shingo Publication Award Accelerate your organization to win in the marketplace. How can we apply technology to drive business value? For years, we've been told that the performance of software delivery teams doesn't matter―that it can't provide a competitive advantage to our companies. Through four years of groundbreaking research to include data collected from the State of DevOps reports conducted with Puppet, Dr. Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim set out to find a way to measure software delivery performance―and what drives it―using rigorous statistical methods. This book presents both the findings and the science behind that research, making the information accessible for readers to apply in their own organizations. Readers will discover how to measure the performance of their teams, and what capabilities they should invest in to drive higher performance. This book is ideal for management at every level.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the International Workshop on Software Measurement, IWSM-Mensura 2007, held in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, in November 2007. The 16 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the book. The papers deal with aspects of software measurement like function-points measurement, effort and cost estimates, prediction, industrial experiences in software measurement, planning and implementing measurement, measurement-based software process improvement, best practices in software measurement, usability and user interaction measurement, measurement of open source projects, teaching and learning software measurement as well as new trends and ontologies for software measurement.

In this comprehensive introduction to software measurement, Ebert and Dumke detail knowledge and experiences about the subject in an easily understood, hands-on presentation. The book describes software measurement in theory and practice as well as provides guidance to all relevant measurement tools and online references. In addition, it presents hands-on experience from industry leaders and provides many examples and case studies from Global 100 companies. Besides the many practical hints and checklists, readers will also appreciate the large reference list, which includes links to metrics communities where project experiences are shared.

Software developers are faced with the challenge of making software systems and products of ever greater quality and safety, while at the same time being faced with the growing pressure of costs reduction in order to gain and maintain competitive advantages. As in any scientific and engineering discipline, reliable measurement is essential for talking on such a challenge. "Software measurement is an excellent abstraction mechanism for learning what works and what doesn't" (Victor Basili). Measurement of both software process and products provides a large amount of basic information for the evaluation of the software development processes or the software products themselves. Examples of recent successes in software measurement span multiple areas, such as evaluation of new development methods and paradigms, quality and management improvement programs, tool-supporting initiatives and company wide measurement programs. The German Computer Science Interest (GI) Group of Software Metrics and the Canadian Interest Group in Software Metrics (CIM) have attended to these concerns in the recent years. Research initiatives were directed initially to the definition of software metrics and then to validation of the software metrics themselves. This was followed by more and more investigation into practical applications of software metrics and by critical analysis of the benefits and weaknesses of software measurement programs. Key findings in this area of software engineering have been published in some important books, such as Dumke and Zuse's Theory and Practice of Software Measurement, Ebert and Dumke's Software Metrics in Practice and Lehner, Dumke and Abran's Software Metrics.

"While it is usually helpful to launch improvement programs, many such programs soon get bogged down in detail. They either address the wrong problems, or they keep beating on the same solutions, wondering why things don't improve. This is when you need an objective way to look at the problems. This is the time to get some data." Watts S. Humphrey, from the Foreword This book, drawing on work done at the Software Engineering Institute and other organizations, shows how to use measurements to manage and improve software processes. The authors explain specifically how quality characteristics of software products and processes can be quantified, plotted, and analyzed so the performance of software development activities can be predicted, controlled, and guided to achieve both business and technical goals. The measurement methods presented, based on the principles of statistical quality control, are illuminated by application examples taken from industry. Although many of the methods discussed are applicable to individual projects, the book's primary focus is on the steps software development organizations can take toward broad-reaching, long-term success. The book particularly addresses the needs of software managers and practitioners who have already set up some kind of basic measurement process and are ready to take the next step by collecting and analyzing software data as a basis for making process decisions and predicting process performance. Highlights of the book include: Insight into developing a clear framework for measuring process behavior Discussions of process performance, stability, compliance, capability, and improvement Explanations of what you want to measure (and why) and instructions on how to collect your data Step-by-step guidance on how to get started using statistical process control If you have responsibilities for product quality or process performance and you are ready to use measurements to manage, control, and predict your software processes, this book will be an invaluable resource.

Features a useful collection of important and practical papers on applying software metrics and measurement. The book details the importance of planning a successful measurement program with a complete discussion of why, what, where, when, and how to measure and who should be involved. Each chapter addresses these significant questions and provides the essential answers in building an effective measurement program. The book differs from others on the market by focusing on the application of the metrics rather than the metrics themselves. The author's provide information based on actual experience with successful metrics programs. Each chapter includes a case study focusing on technology transfer and a set of recommended references. The book serves as a guide on the use and application of software metrics in industrial environments. It is specially designed for managers, product supervisors, and quality assurance personnel who want to know how to implement a metrics program.

Why does poor software quality continue to plague enterprises of all sizes in all industries? Part of the problem lies with the process, rather than individual developers. This practical guide provides ten best practices to help team leaders create an effective working environment through key adjustments to their process. As a follow-up to their popular book, Building Maintainable Software, consultants with the Software Improvement Group (SIG) offer critical lessons based on their assessment of development processes used by hundreds of software teams. Each practice includes examples of goalsetting to help you choose the right metrics for your team. Achieve development goals by determining meaningful metrics with the Goal-Question-Metric approach Translate those goals to a verifiable Definition of Done Manage code versions for consistent and predictable modification Control separate environments for each stage in the development pipeline Automate tests as much as possible and steer their guidelines and expectations Let the Continuous Integration server do much of the hard work for you Automate the process of pushing code through the pipeline Define development process standards to improve consistency and simplicity Manage dependencies on third party code to keep your software consistent and up to date Document only the most necessary and current knowledge