Five Core Metrics: The Intelligence Behind Successful Software Management

Appendix B. Behavior of the Core Metrics

The core metrics of the 6,300 projects reported to the QSM database between 1983 and 2000 exhibit two interesting behaviors. First, these metrics, summed in six periods of three years, conform to the pattern established by the software equation first developed in Chapter 7. Second, they show general improvement during the first five periods (Jan. 1, 1983, to Jan. 1, 1997) and a reversal during the final three years (1997 to 2000).¹

¹ Douglas T. Putnam, QSM’s vice president of professional services, prepared the analysis on which this Appendix is based.

Of course, the validity of the equation has been confirmed thousands of times in individual applications, both in forecasting the behavior of a coming project ...