Communication Metrics for Software Development
|
Abstract—We present empirical evidence that metrics on communication artifacts generated by groupware tools can be used to gain significant insight into the development process that produced them. We describe a test-bed for developing and testing communication metrics, a senior level software engineering project course at Carnegie Mellon University, in which we conducted several studies and experiments from 1991-1996 with more than 400 participants. Such a test-bed is an ideal environment for empirical software engineering, providing sufficient realism while allowing for controlled observation of important project parameters. We describe three proof-of-concept experiments to illustrate the value of communication metrics in software development projects. Finally, we propose a statistical framework based on structural equations for validating these communication metrics.
[1] 615 A.J. Albrecht and J.E. Gaffney Jr., "Software Function, Source Lines of Code, and Development Effort Prediction: A Software Science Validation," IEEE Trans. Software Eng., vol. 9, pp. 639-648, 1983.
[2] V.R. Basili and D. Hutchens, "An Empirical Study of a Syntactic Complexity Family," IEEE Trans. Software Eng., vol. 9, pp. 664-672, 1983.
[3] V.R. Basili, R.W. Selby, and D.H. Hutchens, "Experimentation in Software Engineering," IEEE Trans. Software Eng., vol. 12, pp. 733-743, 1986.
[4] G. Booch, "The Unified Modeling Language," Unix Review, vol. 14, no. 13, pp. 41-44, 46, 48, 1996.
[5] B. Bruegge, J. Blythe, J. Jackson, and J. Shufelt, "Object-Oriented System Modeling with OMT," Proc. Object-Oriented Programming Systems, Languages, and Applications, OOPSLA'92,Vancouver, pp. 359-376, 1992.
[6] L. Bucciarelli, "Reflective Practices in Engineering Design," Design Studies, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 185-190, 1984.
[7] N. Coulter, I. Monarch, S. Konda, and M. Carr, "An Evolutionary Perspective of Software Engineering Research Through Coword Analysis," CMU/SEI-95-TR-019, Software Engineering Inst., Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, 1995.
[8] R. Coyne, A. Dutoit, B. Bruegge, and D. Rothenberger, "Teaching More Comprehensive Model-Based Software Engineering: Experience With Objectory's Use Case Approach," Proc. Eighth Conf. Software Eng. Education, CSEE'95,New Orleans, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 895, pp. 339-374, Springer-Verlag, 1995.
[9] B. Curtis, H. Krasner, and N. Iscoe, "A Field Study of the Software Design Process for Large Systems," Comm. ACM, vol. 31, no. 11, pp. 1,268-1,287, 1988.
[10] T. DeMarco, Controlling Software Projects: Management, Measurement, and Estimation.New York: Yourdon Press, 1982.
[11] A.H. Dutoit, B. Bruegge, and R. Coyne, "Using an Issue-Based Model in a Team-Based Software Engineering Course," Proc. Software Eng.: Education and Practice, SEEP'96,Dunedin, New Zealand, pp. 130-137, IEEE CS Press, 1996.
[12] A.H. Dutoit, "The Rôle of Communication in Team-Based Software Engineering Projects," PhD thesis, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon Univ., 1996.
[13] N.E. Fenton, Software Metrics, A Rigorous Approach. Chapman&Hall, 1991.
[14] R.B. Grady and D.L. Caswell, Software Metrics Establishing a Company-Wide Program, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1987.
[15] M.H. Halstead, Elements of Software Science. North-Holland, 1977.
[16] W.C. Hetzel, "The Sorry State of Software Practice Measurement and Evaluation," J. Systems Software, no. 31, pp. 171-179. 1995.
[17] M. Itakura and A. Takayanagi, "A Model for Estimating Program Size and Its Evaluation," Proc. Sixth Int'l Conf. Software Engineering,Tokyo, pp. 104-109, 1982.
[18] I. Jacobson, M. Christerson, P. Jonsson, and G. Oevergaard, Object-Oriented Software Engineering. Addison-Wesley, 1992.
[19] K.G. Jöreskog, "A General Method for Estimating a Linear Structural Equation System," Structural Equation Models in the Social Sciences, A.S. Goldberger and O.D. Ducan, eds. New York: Seminar Press, 1973.
[20] B. Liskov and J. Guttag, Abstraction and Specification in Program Development. MIT Press, 1986.
[21] T.J. McCabe, "A Complexity Measure," IEEE Trans. Software Eng., vol. 12, pp. 308-320, 1976.
[22] D.E. Perry, N.A. Staudenmayer, and L.G. Votta, "People, Organizations, and Process Improvement." IEEE Software, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 36-45, 1994.
[23] R.B. Rowen, "Software Project Management Under Incomplete and Ambiguous Specification," IEEE Trans. Eng. Management, vol. 37, 1990.
[24] C.L. Chang, R.A. Stachowitz, and J.B. Combs, “Validation of Nonmonotonic Knowledge-Based Systems,” Proc. IEEE Int'l Conf. Tools for Artificial Intelligence, Nov. 1990.
[25] J. Rumbaugh, "Getting Started: Using Use Cases to Capture Requirements," J. for Object Oriented Programming, vol. Sept., pp. 8-10, 23, Sept. 1994.
[26] C.B. Seaman and V.R. Basili, "An Empirical Study of Communication in Code Inspections," Proc. 19th Int'l Conf. Software Eng.,Boston, May 1997.
[27] M. Saeki, "Communication, Collaboration, and Cooperation in Software Development—How Should We Support Group Work in Software Development?" Proc. Asia-Pacific Software Eng. Conf.Brisbane, Australia, 1995.
[28] M. Scriven, "The Methodology of Evaluation," R. Tyler, R.M. Gagne, and M. Scriven, eds., Perspectives of Curriculum Evaluation, AERA Monograph Series on Curriculum Evaluation, no. 1. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1967.
[29] E. Subrahmanian, S.L. Konda, I.A. Monarch, Y. Reich, and A.W. Westerberg, "Computational Support for Shared Memory in Design," Automation Based Creative Design: Current Issues in Computers and Architecture, A. Tzonis and I. White, eds., Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, 1993.
[30] B. Yakemovic and J. Conklin, "Report on a Development Project Use of an Issue-Based Information System," Proc. Conf. Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, CSCW,Los Angeles, pp. 105-118, 1990.
[31] E. Yourdon and L. Constantine, Structured Design: Fundamentals of a Discipline of Computer Program and Systems Design.Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1979.
Index Terms:
Empirical software engineering, communication, statistics, structural equations.
Citation:
Allen H. Dutoit, Bernd Bruegge, "Communication Metrics for Software Development," IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 615-628, Aug. 1998, doi:10.1109/32.707697
PURCHASE ARTICLE: $19
IEEE Xplore Subscribers
Digg
Furl
Spurl
Blink
Simpy
Google
Del.icio.us
Y!MyWeb