Measurement Vital in Software Development
22 May 2008
Using the right measurements is vital in ensuring that organisations’ business needs are successfully met says Dr Dave Zubrow, Team Lead of the Software Engineering Measurement and Analysis Group at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) in the United States.
Zubrow was hosted by the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE) last week, which is the local partner of the SEI.
Prof Barry Dwolatzky, JCSE Director, says Zubrow was in the country to teach a course on “Implementing Goal Driven Measurement” in organisations engaged in software development. He also presented a public lecture on Thursday discussing how to define and use measures to manage and improve software projects, products, and processes.
“Zubrow is one of the world’s leading experts in process measurement and came out to South Africa as part of the JCSE’s mandate to improve the level of software engineering in South Africa. One of the ways the JCSE does this is by creating opportunities for the software development sector to interact with local and international experts,” he says.
The SEI course presented by Zubrow examined how to construct various indicators directly related to high-level business goals. He then showed how to implement these indicators by collecting data within software development projects.
“The business need is paramount in the development process. However, the key question during software development is which metrics are companies collecting to ensure they are meeting the goals laid down by business?
“From there the information that is measured needs to be analysed, formatted and presented in such a way that it displays to the decision makers whether the business needs of the company will be met,” Zubrow says.
Dwolatzky says most South African companies’ measurement processes are immature.
“While the development process often begins by being focused on business needs, as the software is developed, business needs are often forced to conform to software processes instead. And while most companies are performing some kind of measurement, the key question is, are they measuring the right things during the development process?”
In the near future the JCSE will be looking to partner with the SEI to train local instructors to present the Implementing Goal-Driven Measurement” course in South Africa. “This will allow us to present this SEI course in South Africa at a local cost,” he says.