Implementing Effective Software Metrics Programs

Increasingly, organizations are foregoing an ad hoc approach to metrics in favor of complete metrics programs. The authors identify consensus requirements for metric program success and examine how programs in two organizations measured up. ntil relatively recently, software measurement in the Western world has been a rather ad hoc affair focused on measuring individual, product-based software attributes. This rather onedimensional approach to software measurement is now changing. Increasingly, organizations are integrating complete software metrics programs into their software development processes. That is, they are habitually using a balanced range of product and process measures in their micro and macro decision making systems. There are several reasons that partially explain the recent move toward complete metrics programs. Not only has the process improvement bandwagon raised a general awareness of metrics, but to reach higher Capability Maturity Model levels, organizations must incorporate metrics into their development process. Moreover, there now appears to be consensus about the need for