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The Original Sin of Software Metrics

This article argues it is inherently wrong to set up software metrics to try and 'improve' the software development process. Using a fictitious scenario, this article explains the reasons why it is wrong, the damages it may cause, and offers some alternatives for managing software development.

Chen Ping
on Jun 05, 2014
Estimating on agile projects: what’s the story, what’s the point?

Ever wondered about how and why we estimate on agile projects? In his first article on InfoQ, David Morris draws on his own experience with since the 90s, and that of several leading agile writers, to explore the topic of agile estimating: what it is, how we typically do it, why we should bother, a brief appraisal of the #NoEstimates debate, and closes with some advice for people new to it all.

David Morris
on Nov 21, 2013
Your story cards are limiting your agility

Story cards are a long-established tool for keep track of requests and populating a backlog, but the current common format for storycards can lead to improper focus, improper conclusions, wasted time and wasted opportunity. With a subtle but important change to the way storycards are formatted these issues can be overcome, increasing delivery of real customer value

Joseph Flahiff
on Sep 19, 2013
Planning and Controlling Complex Projects

Planning and budgeting large projects is often based on trying to predict how development will turn out. Stories are estimated by the development team, but the budget for the whole project is independent from those estimates. Especially for complex projects this leads most often to (unwanted) surprises. Insights from beyond budgeting can help to increase flexibility, and focus on business value.

Jutta Eckstein
on Sep 02, 2013
Interview with Eduardo Miranda about Estimating and Planning Agile Projects

Eduardo Miranda, associate professor at the Master of Software Engineering program at Carnegie Mellon University explains the need for planning in agile projects, and describes various planning techniques that can be used with agile. He also looks on the impact of agile on project management offices and on the role of project managers in agile projects.

Ben Linders
on Jun 24, 2013
Evaluating Agile and Scrum with Other Software Methodologies

Historical data is a key resource for judging the effectiveness of software process improvement methods and also for calibrating software estimation accuracy. In this article, Capers Jones compares Agile and Scrum with a sample of contemporary software development methods using several standard metrics.

Capers Jones
on Mar 20, 2013
Metrics-Driven Development

In this article the author shares his thoughts and experience gathered while working together with DEV teams, trying to make sense of metrics. He introduces the practice of Metrics-Driven-Development: using metrics to drive the entire application development.

Mantas Klasavičius
on Nov 30, 2012
The Prioritization Divide: With Numbers or Without?

While there are many methods that use stories as a means for prioritizing development, there's a basic divide that asks whether it should be done with numbers or without. There are arguments on both sides, but instead of examining these, people tend to fall into one side naturally. Once there, they can become quickly entrenched in the belief that the other camp is foolishly mistaken.

Paul Dolman-Darrall Alex Adamopoulos
on Nov 19, 2012
Commitment – Writing a Graphic Novel explaining Real Options

Building on their work on Real Options, Chris Matts and Olav Maassen are writing a graphic novel to explain the concepts and share their knowledge in the area. They discussed the novel, the process of producing it and the crowdsourcing model of funding with Shane Hastie from InfoQ. A sample chapter is available for InfoQ readers to download.

Shane Hastie
on Apr 05, 2012
Building Scalability and Achieving Performance: A Virtual Panel

Join our industry-heavyweight (eBay, Betfair, FiveRuns and Twitter) panel as they explore the cost of making their sites as scalable as possible, whilst tuning to get the most performance they possibly can. They explore the pros-and-cons of making their apps as awesome as possible - all the while under the pressure of their business requirements.

James Cox
on Jul 22, 2008
Using Numbers to Communicate - in the Spirit of Agile

It's an old story. Techies cave in to the business guys because they don't know how to push back. The problem? Developers use numbers primarily for computation, but the business uses numbers to make decisions. In this story the "Spirit of Agile" encourages a developer to turn non-computational problems and issues into number language.

Barbara Chauvin Linda Rising
on Jun 13, 2008
AgileEVM: Measuring Cost Efficiency Across the Product Lifecycle

In this InfoQ article, Tamara Suleiman explains AgileEVM, an adaptation of traditional Earned Value Management (EVM) metrics, designed to fit a Scrum project management framework. Compatible with traditional EVM metrics, it allows both Agile and traditional projects to be tracked within a single program, giving important early warnings of trends across the entire product life cycle.

Tamara Sulaiman
on Oct 05, 2007

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