Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2001 16:52:19 -0500 From: John Pustaver Subject: MARK YOUR CALENDAR: Software Quality Group Meeting, Wed, Mar 14, Meaningful Metrics: Is the Software Improving? Meeting of the Software Quality Group of New England Meetings of the Software Quality Group are held on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at the facilities of Sun Microsystems, Burlington (Driving directions below). MEETING DAY & DATE: Wednesday, Mar 14, 2001 TIME: 6:15 PM HEADLINE: Meaningful Metrics: Is the Software Improving? Speaker: Anna Allison MORE INFO: John Pustaver, 978-443-4254, pustaver@swquality.com LOCATION: Sun Microsystems, Burlington (Driving directions below) DESCRIPTION: Is the software improving? How can you tell? As software professionals, we are fascinated by the state of the software under development, looking at trends and attempting to make predictions about ship readiness. Many of us in QA have found calculating statistics and using various metrics useful in monitoring and predicting software development progress. We use these metrics to help us to report, predict, and manage. This presentation examines the metrics that we use in depth: · What is being measured? · Why we are using a particular measurement? · What does the metric tell us about the software at this point? · Can we make predictions about the software going forward based on the metrics? · How should we present the numbers? · Which metrics should we present and to what audiences? · Do the numbers tell the whole story; do we know enough just be reading them? · What do the metrics not tell us? · And most importantly, how do we and others interpret metrics? This presentation looks at a typical graph of Open Bugs and investigates the myriad possibilities for interpretation. At first glance, the graph shows a trend which can be easily interpreted to mean that the software is improving over time. What are the reasons behind the numbers? What could be happening so that these numbers could occur when the software is not improving? We will look behind the scenes of software projects to understand how even simple metrics are useful, as long as we know what other information is needed before an accurate interpretation can be made. Anna Allison has 19 years experience in the software development industry. After receiving her MBA, she entered the software development industry and has worked at such companies as Lotus Development Corp., Bachman Information Systems, Softkey International, Index Consulting, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc, and CareTools. Starting out as a Database Application Developer, Anna has held positions ranging from QA Engineer to QA Director, Managing Consultant for QA Practice, Project Manager, Product Manager, Documentation Director, and IS Director. Anna now runs her own consulting company presenting, training, and consulting with companies on QA strategies, methodologies, and risk analysis techniques. She also continues to do some hands-on QA work for fun, and as an important aid to staying current with trends in QA and software development. Ms. Allison's most recent speaking engagements in 1999 and 2000 have been at the Quality Assurance Institute's International Conference, the Software Quality Group of New England, BOSCON 2000, and will be speaking at STARWEST 2000. She is also the current Program Chairman for the Boston Chapter of SPIN. NEXT MEETING NOTE: The next meeting will be held on Apr 11, 2001: Johanna Rothmann, No More Whining: Reframing the Not Enough Problem 1999-2000 Software Quality Group Calendar Oct. 11, 2000: Linda McInnis, Relentless Software Development Nov. 8, 2000: Eric Patel , Web Testing Dec. 13, 2000: Steve Rakitin, Management's Role in Achieving Predictable Software Development Jan. 10, 2001: Mark Shelley, Removing Defects through Structural Analysis Feb. 14, 2001: Metrics Panel Mar. 14, 2001: Anna Allison, Meaningful Metrics: Is the Software Improving? Apr. 11, 2001: Johanna Rothmann, No More Whining: Reframing the Not Enough Problem May 9, 2001: Bill Silver, Best Testing Practices June 13, 2001: TBD July 11, 2001: Annual Hot Topics Night The Software Quality Group holds monthly meetings. Topics covered at these meetings have included software testing, inspections, ISO 9000, metrics configuration management, and demonstrations of vendor QA tools. There is no charge. The Software Quality Group meets monthly at 6:15pm on the second Wednesday of the month at the facilities of Sun Microsystems, Burlington, MA. Driving directions: From 128/95 Take the Rt. 3 exit heading north (not the Middlesex Turnpike exit if you're coming form the south). From Rt. 3N take the first exit (which is Rt. 62 - Bedford Ave). Turn east toward Burlington. Approximately 0.3 mile after the interchange, turn right onto Network Drive, which leads to the campus on your right. Take the second drive off of Network Drive into the Sun parking lot. Park in the visitor lot and enter the lobby opposite the Sun clock tower. Information about future meetings will be available on the Software Quality Page at http://www.swquality.com/users/pustaver. To be on the email distribution list, send a note to pustaver@swquality.com. The Software Quality Group is cosponsored by Sun Microsystems and the ASQ Software Division and all are welcome. There is NO charge. Directors of the Software Quality Group are John Pustaver, Region I Councilor, American Society for Quality, Software Division and Paul Ratty, Sun Microsystems. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Software Quality Consulting voice:978-443-4254 fax:978-443-6052 pustaver@swquality.com http://www.swquality.com/users/pustaver