Most of the software measures currently proposed to the industry bring few real benefits to either software managers or developers. This book looks at the classical metrology concepts from science and engineering, using them as criteria to propose an approach to analyze the design of current software measures and then design new software measures (illustrated with the design of a software measure that has been adopted as an ISO measurement standard). The book includes several case studies analyzing strengths and weaknesses of some of the software measures most often quoted. It is meant for software quality specialists and process improvement analysts and managers.

Software organizations must respond to increasingly demanding customers in a globally competitive market and must implement best industry practices. With services and products available from vendors the world over, customers are insisting that their software systems be of high quality and with support services that challenge those of the competition while costing as little as possible.

To satisfy these demands, software organizations must have the ability to develop and maintain software to meet the customer ’ s needs, and it must have access to software that support the company ’ s business processes.