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Measuring the Software Process
The norm for software development today is to use object-oriented (OO) and component-based technologies -- such as Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB), Java, and Microsoft's C# -- in combination with relational database technology such as DB2 or Oracle 8i.
As Dorothy so aptly pointed out in The Wizard of Oz, "We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto."
Two common metrics for software size are source lines of code and function points. But by no means are these the only units of size; others include objects, modules, programs, components, and frames. Obviously there are scaling relationships between these abstractions. How can you translate one from the other to understand the proportional aspects of one metric to the next? If you knew the size of a major application in source lines of code, is there a way to equate the size using a metric like function points for people who speak that language?
Sometimes programmers skimp on testing for fear it will slow them down. All too frequently, this leads to delayed or defective software. Properly done, testing will speed up development. Wise teams use test-first development to ensure steady, rapid progress.
Functional size measurement is a fairly recent concept to be embraced by the IT industry. But, increasingly, the method of function point (FP) analysis, as maintained by the International Function Point Users Group (IFPUG), is establishing a position within the field of software measurement.
Understanding the inventory of IT applications is considered to be of high strategic value for organizations interested in IT benchmarking. For some, the purpose might be to better estimate future projects. Others might be embarking on a process improvement strategy and want to know how various IT groups perform relative to one another. A third group could include IT organizations involved in outsourcing or partnering, and they might need this information to quantify the respective roles and productivity commitments.
Article
Measuring the Software Process
"Measurement is a sampling process designed to tell us something about the universe in which we live that will enable us to predict the future in terms of the past through the establishment of principles or natural laws." -- Walter Shewhart
Overview
Measuring the Software Process by William Florac and Anita Carleton (Addison-Wesley, 1999) is a self-contained statistical process control (SPC) foundation in the context of software process improvement (SPI).