Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!udel!haven.umd.edu!mimsy!cml From: cml@cs.umd.edu (Christopher Lott) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng Subject: Re: use of metrics Message-ID: <35364@mimsy.umd.edu> Date: 7 Jun 91 13:33:29 GMT References: <4794.284cfad3@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com> <35346@mimsy.umd.edu> <1991Jun7.074226.12105@netcom.COM> Sender: news@mimsy.umd.edu Organization: University of Maryland Dept of Computer Science Lines: 37 >>I write: >>Lines of code for productivity? Hey, blank lines! >>Effort to effect repair of a bug? Hey, low-ball it! Time spent on the >>computer? Uh, two or three runs, a few seconds, yeah! Effort charged to >>the project? What, you mean all those night hours I put in fixing my >>screwups? forget it! In article <1991Jun7.074226.12105@netcom.COM> jls@netcom.COM (Jim Showalter) writes: >The above assumes that metrics can only be gathered by asking people >to compile them for you. This is, I think, the WORST way to acquire >metrics data, since it puts humans--with all their bias, subjectivity, >and defensiveness--into the loop. Every item listed above could be >acquired automaically with relatively simple tools. I do NOT assume that metrics can be gathered only by asking people for them, and I disagree strongly with Mr Showalter about this point. Many metrics can be automated, and should be, in order to reduce the load on the personnel. BUT you cannot automagically collect data which is invisible. Kindly explain to me how a simple tool will determine the amount of unpaid (unrecorded) time spent? Or decide how much of the 40 hours spent on error correction last week was spent on each of the 17 error fixes that were performed? This is highly valuable data for the project metrics program, and it only comes from humans. Let me add that I also believe that a metrics program absolutely needs an error / metrics analyst to audit reports for sanity. Bias, subjectivity, and other problems will taint metrics reporting, so the reports cannot be taken verbatim - some careful checking of reports shortly after submission serves as much-needed validation. Yes, this can get expensive. That is a valid concern. The argument to be made is that the improvements realized from a good metrics program more than pay for the overhead associated with the program. chris... -- Christopher Lott \/ Dept of Comp Sci, Univ of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 cml@cs.umd.edu /\ 4122 AV Williams Bldg 301 405-2721