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Software Sizing: There is an Easier Way Project managers and software engineers need to accurately calculate delivery dates and resource needs for their software. This means they have to measure the size of the requirement, and estimate how much it will require in time and expense. But is there a sizing technique that's both effective and efficient? Popular sizing techniques such as the function point method can be difficult and labor intensive. However, there are alternative methods that produce quicker results, often without compromising accuracy. This presentation shares new ways to determine the size of your software deliverable while maintaining accuracy.
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David Herron, The David Consulting Group
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IS and IT Benchmarking: Current Status Are you having trouble making a business case for benchmarking at your organization? Mark Czarnecki delivers his benchmarking expertise in a presentation designed to help participants impact their corporate culture as well as their benchmarking abilities. He reviews the current status of information systems and technology benchmarking, and he explains current benchmarking theory. The presentation also covers generalized database sources for benchmarking.
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Mark Czarnecki, The Benchmarking Network, Inc.
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Activity-Based Cost Estimating for Web-Based Software What does it cost to provide a feature or complete a transaction for Web-based software? In traditional activity-based cost estimating, a company looks at a product's sales activity and resources used in order to determine its cost. But how do we measure the resources used by one product, when all of the company's products share a common Web site or server? Avon Leong explores the matters involved in calculating the ongoing cost of providing online functions, and why it's important. He offers participants strategies to tackle these modern-day eCommerce issues.
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Avon Leong, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc
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Requirements Are Requirements Are Requirements - Not! "This isn't what I need," states Customer Bob. "But it's what you said you wanted," replies Engineer Joe. "It's not right. I need something else." We've all encountered this classic users-don't-know-what-they-want scenario. The fact that software professionals continue to have this same experience over and over again suggests that we're overlooking the real reasons for the user/engineer disconnect. This presentation contrasts the different uses of the term "requirements" as it explores the possible solutions to improving understanding between business people and technical people.
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Robin Goldsmith, GoPro Management, Inc.
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Get Real! Creating Realistic, Actionable Project Schedules The preparation of a realistic, practical project schedule is an essential management function for obtaining stakeholder commitment, setting expectations, and communicating within the team and organization what is achievable. Doing this preparation well is another challenge-one that must be conquered. Rex Black helps participants see the bigger project scheduling picture by focusing on issues such as constituent tasks, the underlying dependencies between them, and the risks attached to the completion of those tasks.
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Rex Black, Rex Black Consulting Services, Inc.
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Measurement and the CMM: How Measurement Practices Evolve People who use the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) for software often struggle with the apparent paradigm shift as they move from level to level, particularly when they reach Level four in the CMM one to five level scheme. This presentation illustrates the characteristics of a measurement program at the different CMM maturity levels. It particularly seeks to demystify the Level four concepts of process capability and process performance baselines, and how these concepts are applicable to all CMM levels. The presenter uses real-world examples from a variety of mid- to high-maturity organizations to show participants how to make the transitions across CMM levels without losing momentum.
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Charlie Weber and Beth Layman, TeraQuest Metrics
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Function Points! It's Our Middle Name Function points are measures of software size that are critical to any successful measurement program. The International Function Point Users Group (IFPUG) is the non-profit organization responsible for defining the standard, documenting the rules, and promoting function point usage. This session offers an introduction to function points, including their components, usage, and counting process.
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Scott Goldfarb, International Function Point Users Group
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Measurement: The CEO Viewpoint Software managers, process engineers, and measurement specialists often evaluate measurement and metrics based on how they help the software and its customers. Yet it's just as important to think about and quantify how they help the business. In this presentation, Don Winter shares the perspective of measurement from the top-more specifically, which numbers are most critical to the corporate bottom line. Discover how measurement drives senior-level decision making, and why a measurement system must take this viewpoint into account.
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Don Winter, TRW Systems
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Test Progress Reporting Using Functional Readiness Are you looking for a way to effectively set the expectations of senior management? The Functional Readiness Matrix (FRM) is a decision-making tool that offers a simple way to represent test progress based on the functional areas or features of an application. By enabling the test team to track actual test progress against the implementation goals established early on, the FRM allows for the presentation of valid test metrics to management in a way they can understand.
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Robyn Brilliant, Fannie Mae
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The Simplest Automated Unit Test Framework That Could Possibly Work Everyone pays lip service to the importance of unit testing, but rarely do developers actually integrate unit testing into their daily routine. In the spirit of eXtreme Programming, this presentation offers a simple two-class framework for automating unit tests in three popular languages: C++, Java, and C. No GUI, no templates, just a fast and productive way of organizing and running suites of unit tests. You'll walk away wondering how you have done without this simple technique for so long.
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Chuck Allison, Utah Valley State College
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