Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
went back to the
Organizational Repository
. Unfortunately, I couldn't tie existing
historical data to potential root causes because the data that had been collected
for years was the typical textbook type measures, which were not
specific
enough to help.
In the topic
Measuring the Software Process
[14], it is stated that:
When planning for measurement it is important to identify the critical fac-
tors that often arise from concerns and problems and risks that threaten
ability to meet goals.
In the topic
Understanding Variation
[15], we find that:
Much of the managerial data in use today consists of aggregated counts.
Such data tends to be virtually useless in identifying the nature of prob-
lems… The work of process improvement requires specific measures and
contextual knowledge. [15]
In our case study, traditional
foundation measures
only had been collected.
Specific context relevant measures
were not derived based on business needs.
LESSON 2
Company standard metrics are often insufficient for real process improvement.
3.8 Specific Context Relevant Measures
Examples of specific context relevant measures that could have helped
include:
• Cycle time to get critical path hardware on order
• Cycle time to install and test critical hardware
How did we come up with these measures? By asking key questions.
LESSON 3
Derive specific measures for needed insight, by asking key questions.
