Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!tivoli!alan From: alan@tivoli.UUCP (Alan R. Weiss) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng Subject: Re: COCOMO Message-ID: <830@tivoli.UUCP> Date: 22 Jun 91 19:52:29 GMT References: Reply-To: alan@tivoli.UUCP (Alan R. Weiss) Distribution: comp Organization: Tivoli Systems Inc., Austin, TX Lines: 54 In article ahl@technix.oz.au (Tony Landells) writes: >I'm looking for opinions of COCOMO. I was on a course about software >quality assurance and they mentioned it as a methodology which >produces a lot of useful figures, but the comments were accompnied by >the disclaimer "I haven't used it, but people that do seem to think >it's pretty good". Sigh. Another worthless anecdote is coming ... beware! In my experience using a product called SLIM (Software Life Cycle Management) that was based upon a COCOMO model, COCOMO a priori estimates are not very good for Unix (tm)/C development because they are based around a COBOL and mainframe environment. COCOMO tools that use the model are useful AFTER you have developed your OWN measurements and have seen the results of your own experience. The ol' chicken and the egg story. The really useful part is getting you to think in terms of schedules, probability, and resource weighting. Their address from the users manual: SLIM -- Quantitative Software Management, Inc. 1057 Waverley Way McLean, Virginia, USA 22101 (703) 790-0055 >I believe it's completely described in "Sofware Engineering Economics" >by B.W.Boehm, Prentice-Hall 1987; but the book isn't readily available >here in Australia (lead time for order is 12-14 weeks) and it is >extremely expensive, so... Ah, cough up for it :-) Just kidding. Dr. Barry Boehm is well-known in the States as a S/W engineering guru who is very good in IV&V/military/100% quality environments. Nice lecturer, too. He really knows his stuff. Barry's books are great. >I'm looking at this almost purely for a UNIX/C environment, since >that's the field I work in, in case this affects people's comments. > >Thanks kindly, >Tony Landells Hope this helps, mate. I'm afraid you've just joined the Software Project Management profession, and have hit the first problem: how to estimate! _______________________________________________________________________ Alan R. Weiss TIVOLI Systems, Inc. E-mail: alan@tivoli.com 6034 West Courtyard Drive, E-mail: alan@whitney.tivoli.com Suite 210 Voice : (512) 794-9070 Austin, Texas USA 78730 Fax : (512) 794-0623 _______________________________________________________________________