Chapter 11: Stage 4: Component Build

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OVERVIEW

Key Points:

Building the components should be mechanistic

Build the things you will need now rather than waiting until when they are needed

Having spent so much time and effort ensuring that you have requirements clearly specified and linked to business needs together with the work you have put in designing solutions to meet those requirements, this stage should be as easy as it seems in Figure 11.1:

Figure 11.1: Building the Components of a Software Metrics Program

Of course, anyone who has worked on building systems of any kind knows that this is true in theory but that the build stage is, in fact, as difficult as any other stage, but in different ways. One thing that makes this stage difficult is simply the time it takes to change a design into something solid and working. Another problem is that you tend, during this stage, to be much more isolated from your customers. Breaking the stage into well-defined tasks is one way of dealing with the problems. Another is to ensure that you build reviews, perhaps by the Metrics Coordination Group, into your build stage.

You have two major work elements within this stage. First you have to set things up so that you are in good shape to start implementation; basically, to lay the foundations for that stage. Second, you have to physically build the components of your Software Metrics program so that you have something to implement!

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