QW2000 QuickStart 4Q

Mr. Tom Gilb
(Result Planning Limited )

Pitiful and Powerful Measures of Software Metrics

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Presentation Abstract

What are 'Powerful and Pitiful Measures'? Powerful measures help management achieve their purposes as managers of software engineering teams. Powerful measures are not indirect: they measure as close to the customers' experience and need as possible. They help management to attain their customer-related objectives and to control their product development and production processes.

Measures become pitiful when they are not well suited to control what really matters. Often, inappropriate use of measures simply occurs because their use is either conventional or convenient.

To give some examples:

About the Author

Tom Gilb is an independent consultant, teacher and author. He works mainly in UK, Europe and North America. He is resident in Norway.

Tom coined the term 'Software Metrics' with the publication of his book of the same name in 1976 (European edition) and 1977 (USA edition). This work is the acknowledged (by R. Radice and W. Humphrey) as inspiration for much of the Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model Level 4 (SEI CMM Level 4). His other books include Principles of Software Engineering Management (1988, now in 13th printing) and Software Inspection (1993 with Dorothy Graham). His main professional interest is the development of powerful Systems Engineering methods (covering Requirements, Design, Quality Control and Project Management).

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