Measuring Up to Metrics: Part II -- Are Software Organizations Managing by Data?

by E.M. Bennatan

There is a simple illusion shown in Figure 1. When asked which of the two lines is longer, many people choose line A, while some who have seen a similar example before will say that both lines are the same length. Actually, line B is longer. When I showed this figure to a class several years ago, one student remarked that surely I must have meant to say that line A is longer. I invited the student to measure the lines, to which he responded, "But that would be pointless when the result is so clear."

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Measuring Up to Metrics: Part II -- Are Software Organizations Managing by Data? March 2005