9.4 INITIAL PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN

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Having prepared the project plan we will have a good idea of what needs to be done, at least at a relatively high level. It is very tempting to get your head down and get on with it; after all, you can always let the business know what is going to hit them when you are ready to hit them with it. But stop and think for a moment!

Any Software Metrics Program relies heavily on the cooperation of many individuals within the software engineering functions. It is always a good idea to let these individuals know that such help is required as early as possible but you probably will not know exactly which individuals you need this help from. One way to counter this problem is to inform as many people as possible of the fact that a Software Metrics Program now exists.

Apart from just raising the profile of the project, an initial publicity campaign can also be used to start the education process within software development. You may be convinced, from talking to other people outside of your own organization and from your reading during the feasibility study, that a metrics program has a valuable contribution to make to improving the software engineering process, but you will almost certainly be in a minority. A great deal of time and effort is going to be spent convincing others of this fact.

You may also be in the fortunate position of having convinced a senior manager that the organization should adopt the use of Software Metrics immediately. This individual may also believe that mandating that use will be sufficient for it to happen. Don't believe it: a successful Software Metrics Program depends on the active participation and cooperation of the people to whom it is being applied. Time spent convincing those people that such co-operation will be worthwhile is time well spent and will repay your efforts ten fold.

A word of warning: beware of overselling the program. At this point in time, you have nothing that the development function can make use of so there is no point making exaggerated claims that you cannot back up. Also, these people have probably heard it all before. The IT industry does tend to suffer from "flavor-of-the-month syndrome." About twenty years ago third generation languages were going to solve all our problems. Then it was automatic code generators, then the ill-fated Integrated Project Support Environment.

Formal methods, object-oriented design or coding and software reuse have all been hailed as panacea to all of our problems, yet the problems still exist. Do you really expect people to believe that Software Metrics will be any different? And in many ways, this cynicism is justified, even when it is applied to Software Metrics.

Software development is largely about people. Software Metrics, per se, will not necessarily improve things directly, but the changes in the way people work and think that Software Metrics helps bring about can generate immense savings and improvements.

So, how should such an initial publicity campaign be handled?

First, consider another question. What do we want the campaign to achieve? There are four points that we should address with such a campaign:

we need to make people aware that the topic, Software Metrics itself, exists.
we need to tell the organization that the Systems development function has initiated a program aimed at monitoring and improving its own processes and products.
ideally, we should also generate discussion; and, finally,
we should alert everyone in the software development function that this new project may well need their help in the near future.

Does the organization have an in-house magazine? If so you can use this as a vehicle for publicity and education. Bear in mind that you will be introducing a topic that is new to most people and that the subject is both wide-ranging and complicated by people issues. Because of this, you may wish to consider a short series of articles starting with a brief introduction to the areas that Software Metrics can address and followed by separate articles addressing each of those areas. Your "campaign" may be as simple as a briefing note sent out as a general email from your sponsor to all staff.

Remember not to build up false hopes. There is little point in discussing, say, McCabe Metrics if your program is only addressing the measurement of productivity. Also remember not to make exaggerated claims about the benefits of using Software Metrics as you will stretch credibility.

Another vehicle that can be used for publicity is site notice boards if your organization uses these. A simple poster, perhaps using humor, can be a good way of getting a message across. One example I have seen consists of a sword-wielding king, with a few hard-pressed knights nearby. Behind this group is a salesman holding a machine gun. The comment is "Don't bother me now, I've got a war to fight." Give the king a standard labeled "Software Development" and put the words "Software Metrics" on the guns ammunition box and you have an effective advert for your work. Alternatively, you could get some simple announcement on the company Intranet.

Perhaps your organization holds periodic, open briefing sessions. If so you may like to consider staging such a presentation. Alternatively you may have some sort of networked advertisement scheme on your development machines that you can utilize.

A presentation to senior management, can be tempting at this point but do beware. One of my previous managers gave me some very good advice some years ago regarding such an audience. He said, "Keep the presentation short," which I am sure you already know but he went on, "tell them what the problem is, tell them the options then tell them what they are going to do." This is a good guideline and while you may be able, even at this early stage, to tell them what the problem is you are unlikely to be able to give them the options nor are you yet in a position to tell them what to do. So, tempting though it may be, it is probably best to avoid such events at the moment unless you need their approval for the work; but remember, we are assuming that this has already been obtained.

Do not expect senior management to mandate every step of the metrics initiative development and implementation process.

There is another technique that can be used to both stimulate interest in a Software Metrics program and that can provide a vehicle for education: a Software Metrics workshop can do both of these things. Please note that this is not a traditional training course. It is true that such an event will contain many similarities to a training course and it will be "driven" by the presenter but it is essentially a two-way exercise in communication. You as the presenter need to provide information about the subject, what it is and what it can achieve, but, equally, you are seeking information that will enable you to identify potential champions and that will help you focus on their needs.

A Software Metrics workshop does require a significant investment on the part of the organizer and the presenter. Also, running such an event can be very demanding so you may feel that this is best left until you are comfortable and confident with the detailed use of metrics.

The publicity and education process within a Software Metrics Program is continuous. Use it to help maintain momentum as well as to introduce new ideas to the organization.

Finally, realize that staging a publicity campaign, even one that is only intended to introduce the topic of Software Metrics, does take time and you will need to budget for it in your plans. It does help to get rid of the "ivory tower" syndrome which could plague Software Metrics programs. This is because the key element in such a campaign should be a statement of intent saying, very clearly, that the program will include the people involved in the day-to-day work of the software development function from an early stage. We will now discuss how this involvement can be achieved.

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