Measurement and Metrics

Tutorials

MA Agile Release Planning, Metrics, and Retrospectives

Michael Mah, QSM Associates, Inc.

Mon, 11/11/2013 - 8:30am

How do you compare the productivity and quality you achieve with agile practices with that of traditional waterfall projects? Join Michael Mah to learn about both agile and waterfall metrics and how these metrics behave in real projects. Learn how to use your own data to move from sketches on a whiteboard to create agile project trends on productivity, time-to-market, and defect rates. Using recent, real-world case studies, Michael offers a practical, expert view of agile measurement, showing you these metrics in action on retrospectives and release estimation and planning. In hands-on exercises, learn how to replicate these techniques to make your own comparisons for time, cost, and quality. Working in pairs, calculate productivity metrics using the templates Michael employs in his consulting practice. You can leverage these new metrics to make the case for changing to more agile practices and creating realistic project commitments in your organization. Take back new ways for communicating to key decision makers the value of implementing agile development practices.

TE Measurement and Metrics for Test Managers

Rick Craig, Software Quality Engineering

Tue, 11/12/2013 - 8:30am

To be most effective, test managers must develop and use metrics to help direct the testing effort and make informed recommendations about the software’s release readiness and associated risks. Because one important testing activity is to “measure” the quality of the software, test managers must measure the results of both the development and testing processes. Collecting, analyzing, and using metrics is complicated because many developers and testers are concerned that the metrics will be used against them.

Concurrent Sessions

BT8 How to (Effectively) Measure Quality across Software Deliverables

David Herron, DCG

Thu, 11/14/2013 - 2:15pm

How do you properly compare the quality of two or more software deliverables without an accurate normalizing metric? The answer: You can’t. Example: If project A has one-hundred defects and project B has fifty defects, do you automatically assume project B is a higher quality deliverable? Although the number of defects is often the end user’s quality perception, defect counts may not be the right measure. An effective normalizing metric allows you to accurately measure and compare quality levels across software deliverables.

BT12 Measure Customer and Business Feedback to Drive Improvement

Paul Fratellone, uTest

Thu, 11/14/2013 - 3:45pm

Companies often go to great lengths to collect metrics. However, even the most rigorously collected data tends to be ignored, despite the findings and potential for improving practices. Today, one metric that cannot be ignored is customer satisfaction. Customers are more than willing to share their thoughts in a manner that can impact your bottom line. Social media gives consumers a stronger voice than ever, and damage to your brand is only one tweet away. The question is: Are you listening to your customers?