Challenge Is Organizational

Many organizations push responsibility for improved software practices down to the project level. As I was reviewing the "effort-multiplier" factors in the popular Cocomo II estimation model^[16] recently, I was struck by how few factors are under the control of an individual project manager. Of the 22 factors Cocomo II uses to fine-tune a project's base effort estimate, only three in my judgment are typically under the control of an individual project manager (the factors of Level of Documentation, Architecture and Risk Resolution, and Development for Reuse). Numerous factors are dictated by the nature of a company's business (product complexity, required reliability, platform volatility, unprecedentedness of the software, and so on). These factors cannot easily be changed without changing businesses. The remaining factors cannot readily be influenced by individual projects and must be addressed by the organization staff capability, multi-site development, personnel continuity, process maturity, and other factors. These organization-level areas seem to be where the greatest leverage for improved software practices lies.