Ten Habits of Highly Effective Measurement Programs

Accurately measuring product quality and process capabilities is challenging in any software organization. Most organizations do not attempt any real measurement at all, and the ones that do often fail miserably. In fact, the industry success rate for software measurement programs is terribly low-some say less than 25 percent. Ian Brown presents ten keys to measurement success, including: having people dedicated to measurement work rather than those assigned part-time, a strong commitment from senior management, measurements directly related to articulated business goals, automated measurement collection tools, integrating measurement into the process rather than tacked on, and more. Based on the successes of Booz Allen Hamilton, learn how to start small and slowly grow your measurement program to build success on top of success. Begin your journey to a better measurement program and take back a set of measurements that are "safe" and non-threatening to individuals.

• How to communicate the value of measurements in software
• Proven success factors for any measurement program
• Measurements that motivate "good" and "bad" behavior