Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!newstop!exodus!margot.Eng.Sun.COM!donm From: donm@margot.Eng.Sun.COM (Don Miller) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng Subject: Re: Metrics Example Message-ID: <13997@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> Date: 24 May 91 20:33:25 GMT References: <24600@unix.SRI.COM> <1991May23.231339.22418@netcom.COM> Sender: news@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mt. View, Ca. Lines: 49 In article kers@hplb.hpl.hp.com (Chris Dollin) writes (in jest, to make a point): > >Suppose I proposed the following metrics: > >* the number of cups (or cans) of beverage consumed per developer per day. > >* number of charaters of output generated (on paper, that is) per day. > >* hours spent on aerobics > >* numbers of relevant papers photocopied per week > >* average number of windows present on the screen at once This reminds me of a funny example of the misapplication of a metric. In the movie, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", townspeople attempt to apply metrics to determine if a woman is a witch: 1. Witches are made of wood. 2. Wood floats. 3. Ducks float. 4. Therefore, if she weighs as much as a duck, she must be a witch. The townspeople proceed to weigh the woman on an elaborate scale counterweighted with a duck. Of course, this scale indicates that her weight and the ducks are indeed the same. Thus, she is unarguably a witch. I guess this means that regardless of how appropriate a metric appears to be, someone needs to be able to tell when it's misapplied or faulty. It also means that if you have the power and the will, metrics can be powerful tools for manipulation - especially in an unenlightened environment. However, in our enlightened environments the above scenario would never happen. We all know that witches are made of stone. (don't we? :-) -- Don Miller | #include Software Quality Engineering | #define flame_retardant \ Sun Microsystems, Inc. | "I know you are but what am I?" donm@eng.sun.com |