2Management
10. Definitely Measure, but Do Not Over-Measure
I had an occasion, some years ago, to see a senior manager request (of a junior researcher) a plan for software measurement in a government agency. As I recall, the researcher came back a few weeks later with an extensive list of about three dozen items. The overall scenario had to do with ultimately suggesting that this list be the “standard” for all serious software efforts in that agency.
There are times when one wishes to measure software on a project, but measuring 36 items or such is just too much. Too much time and energy in that case are going into measurement, more than the software development itself. If implemented, it’s very likely to sink the project rather than improve ...
