Five Core Metrics: The Intelligence Behind Successful Software Management

To succeed in the software industry, managers need to cultivate a reliable development process. By measuring what teams have achieved on previous projects, managers can more accurately set goals, make bids, and ensure the successful completion of new projects.

Acclaimed long-time collaborators Lawrence H. Putnam and Ware Myers present simple but powerful measurement techniques to help software managers allocate limited resources and track progress.

Drawing new findings from an extensive database of more than 6,300 software projects, the authors demonstrate how readers can control projects with just five core metrics -- Time, Effort, Size, Reliability, and Process Productivity. With these metrics, managers can adjust ongoing projects to changing conditions -- surprises that would otherwise cause instant failure.

Larry Putnam, Sr., and Ware Myers have written three previous books and numerous articles together over many years. Mr. Putnam, a leading expert in the software estimation and management field, is the president of Quantitative Software Management, a software management consulting firm based in McLean, Virginia.

Ware Myers is an independent consultant and a long-time contributing editor to Computer and IEEE Software. His current interests include the application of metrics to software planning, estimating, bidding, and project control.