Metricas Pymes

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Table 1 Workload of the Chief Developer and Developer B

Case Study

Period of Time

Development Area
Library Application 1 Application 2 Library Application 1 Application 3

The key to successful measurement programs is to make the metrics meaningful and tailor them to the organization— however small it might be. Here the author explains how he helped three smallcompanies reduce the time spent handling change requests, correcting errors, and generating system versions and production releases. B oth the developers and customers appreciated the improved practices.

Originally, the software developers greeted our activities with a great deal of skepticism, but they eventually accepted them because we kept the measurements simple, tailored them to eachorganization, and ensured that they produced valuable information. In the end, the programs provided a foundation for taking care of customers and for planning and carrying out future work.

They also participated in regular project meetings. The overall project was coordinated in meetings of researchers and the local project leaders, wherein we discussed formal and informal matters and exchanged ideas.Period 1 (January–April) Period 2 (May–October)

Number of New Program Statements
13,972 –200 817 8,919 524 40

Hours Spent by the Chief Developer
480 0 10 339 4.5 5

Hours Spent by Developer B
40 107 92 53 204 22.75

DEVELOPING METRICS PROGRAMS
During the first six months, we defined the metrics scheme in parallel with the development of the configuration and change management routines.The original project plan included a formulation of measurable outcomes, but early discussions made it clear that neither the project leaders nor the other developers were convinced about the benefits of an overall metrics program. The prevailing mood
Period of Time
Period 1

PROJECT BACKGROUND
The metrics programs came about as part of a process improvement experiment sponsored by the EU’sEuropean Systems and Software Initiative program. The aim of ESSI is to motivate European software-producing organizations to test and deploy software best practices. Under this initiative, organizations perform their experiment in a reallife, commercial project over a period of up to 18 months. They can employ external consultants or researchers for support. Our project involved three smallcompanies that received ESSI support to perform a process improvement experiment focused on controlling source code versions. ESSI asks that the companies use metrics to verify and validate the effect of their improvement actions. I was part of a team of researchers called in to consult and mentor the project teams to this end. All three companies were less than five years old and had five or feweremployees. Each based its business on developing one main product, which was either administrative or technical software. Everyone on staff—including the company founders—were working as system developers. Staff members’experience ranged from a few months to 10 years, but few had a formal background as software or business professionals; most were trained in engineering or other natural sciences. Ineach company, a senior developer acted as local project leader and principal project member. Their responsibilities were to develop and introduce the configuration and change management routines and to establish the metrics program that would monitor and control the routines’ impact. The project leaders were also responsible for collecting the measurement data. Other developers in each companyprovided feedback about the feasibility of the practices and the measurement data.

Table 2 Tutoring Time by Chief Developer and Developer B Effort
Development Area
Library Function 1 Library Function 2 Library Function 3 Application 1 Application 2 Library Function 1 Library Function 2 Application 1 Application 3

Tutoring Hours (Chief Developer)
5 5 2 0 0 5 4 4 0.75

Hours Spent on Task...