Foreword


There are three important rules that everyone should follow when using metrics to assess a software process: (1) be sure that you define your goals before you begin measuring, (2) identify meaningful metrics that will help you to achieve your goals, and (3) keep it simple ” very simple. Over the years , most software engineering organizations have struggled as they attempt to implement these rules. First, it has been difficult to establish well-defined goals that are meaningful to senior management and at the same time consequential to technical managers and practitioners . Second, it has been challenging to define a set of metrics that truly reflect the efficacy of a software process. And last, we refuse to keep it simple ” defining metrics that sometimes do more to confuse than to illuminate.

But now we have help. With the publication of this book, David Rico cuts through the complexity and confusion associated with the measurement of the software process and provides us with a road map for understanding its costs and benefits. At the core of Rico's approach is an age-old business metric ” return-on-investment (ROI) ” a common-sense method for evaluating whether the costs associated with any business activity are justified based on the return (benefit) accrued as the business activity is applied over time. It seems pretty obvious that this measure is the one to apply. After all, we spend money (sometimes lots of it) to implement a software process. It seems only reasonable that we should justify these expenditures with more than arm waving.

Then why haven't more software organizations used ROI as a primary metric in the evaluation of software process models? The reason, I think, is that most software organizations don't really understand how to measure ROI in a software context. There has been no cohesive information source that delineates (1) the data that should be collected as the software process is instantiated and applied, (2) the models that must be developed to understand cost and benefit, and (3) the mechanisms that should be applied to interpret and act upon the results derived from application of the ROI metric.

ROI of Software Process Improvement changes all of this by providing concrete, quantitative guidelines for determining process improvement costs, benefits, ROI, net present value, and the breakeven point. Rather than doing this for an abstract "process," Rico selects today's major software process models and process improvement strategies ” the Software Inspection Process, the Personal Software Process SM , Team Software Process SM , Software Capability Maturity Model , ISO 9001, and Capability Maturity Model Integration ” and defines a methodology for computing ROI for each.

This book will help you in your efforts to improve the software process within your organization. Why? It will show you how to characterize the problem and your efforts to solve it in terms that senior management can appreciate using metrics that every senior manager understands. And as a result, it will provide you with the ammunition you'll need to convince senior management to adequately fund software process improvement efforts and to continue funding over the long haul. The end result is a better software process and, as a consequence, higher quality software, better time to market, and controlled development costs.

Dr. Roger S. Pressman




ROI of Software Process Improvement. Metrics for Project Managers and Software Engineers
ROI of Software Process Improvement: Metrics for Project Managers and Software Engineers
ISBN: 193215924X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 145

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