Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!apple!agate!ucbvax!dog.ee.lbl.gov!nosc!manta!norton From: norton@manta.NOSC.MIL (Scott Norton) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng Subject: Re: Software Quality Summary: Statistical Process Control requires real data Keywords: TQM, process improvement Message-ID: <1843@manta.NOSC.MIL> Date: 20 Mar 91 03:53:23 GMT References: <1991Mar15.095125.44@skyler.mavd.honeywell.com> Followup-To: comp.software-eng Distribution: comp.software-eng Organization: Space & Naval Warfare Systems Command Lines: 25 In article jgautier@vangogh.ads.com (Jorge Gautier) writes: >[...] To attach metrics to this fundamental activity of >process quality improvement--"let's see, last month you did 7.2 on our >quality index, this month you did 8.1: good job!"--is ... well, I >don't have the words to describe it. Of course, there are those who >don't understand anything unless it's a number, so whatcha gonna do... One of the central concepts of Total Quality Management is the need for data: numerical measures of the quality of a process. These measures of performance are not imposed by the manager, but developed by the people who are most familiar with the process--the employees who actually do the work. The manager leads thhe improvement of the process, making sure the improvement is to the quality of the product, but the task of defining the metric is the workers'. Of course, there are other uses for software metrics: one example I saw in this newsgroup was the rule of thumb relating source lines of code and test time. But for statistical quality control, in a TQM organization, the measurements are determind by the people who do the process, and used by them to improve that process. Scott A. Norton LT USN norton@NOSC.MIL