Return on Software: Maximizing the Return on Your Software Investment

Chapter 26. Decisions Based on Multiple Attributes

Chapters 3 through 25 explain how to make decisions based on a single decision criterion, money. The alternative with the best PW, the best AE, the best incremental IRR, the best incremental benefit-cost ratio, etc. is the one selected. Aside from technical feasibility, money is almost always the most important decision criterion, but it's certainly not always the only one. Quite often there are other criteria, other “attributes,” that need to be considered, and those attributes can't be cast in terms of money. If you were responsible for buying a new laptop computer for use on a development project, price would probably be the most important decision criterion. But other attributes such as ...