Although typically used at places like NASA, reliability growth modeling also can be used for common business and financial applications. Reliability growth modeling predicts how many defects will be in your release, how quickly your testing should uncover them, and how many will still be present after delivery. You can use this information to make ship/no-ship decisions, manage test coverage, and appropriately staff the help desk. Using a free, downloadable tool, CASRE (Computer Aided Software Reliability Estimation) from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Michael Allegra outlines a step-by-step process to produce and interpret dynamic reliability growth models. Michael walks you through an example project, explains how to get started with modeling, and demonstrates that you don't have to be a rocket scientist to use it.

Implementing a useful measurement program that also addresses the measurement requirements of the SEI CMMI® process areas can be a daunting task. Organizations pursuing Level 2 and Level 3 maturity have difficult decisions to make designing a measurement program that is both practical and fully compliant. Steve Lett describes the measurement requirements contained within the CMMI® Maturity Level 2 and 3 Process Areas (PAs). He then recommends a common sense approach and a set of measurements that will address all of the PA requirements. See examples of measurement charts and learn how they can be highly valued improvement tools within your organization. Find out about the prerequisites for success and the steps necessary to establish a measurement program.

What is the purpose of software quality metrics and what values do they provide to the organization? What metrics not only report on and but also help drive changes and improvements in software quality? Based on his work at EMC, Jim Bampos discusses the metrics they use to predict software quality at ship time and the key quality questions to ask customers after ship. Find out what it takes to roll out a successful metrics program and the results you can expect, including quality ownership across the organization and improved customer satisfaction. Watch out for unintended consequences and wrong behavior that can result from a metrics program. Learn from Jim the key steps to ensure that your organization adopts the metrics program and that people are held accountable for the data and results.

Long, long ago in a company far, far away, Bill Curtis designed one of the largest software measurement systems ever deployed. Ultimately, it reported to senior management system measures that foretold the loss of one-half of the fifth largest company on earth. Covering all of the corporation's far-flung businesses, this measurement system highlighted the four critical factors that determine a project's fate and provided categories for normalizing and classifying the company's software. It showed that many executives do not understand normal variation, and others do not want to admit what they do know. Through Bill's fascinating and sometimes bizarre story, you'll be convinced that system measurement is not only a technical undertaking but also a political one as well. In addition, you will learn about measurement standards for successful systems-standards you may be able to apply in your organization.