About Software Development and Software Metrics

Just a few days ago I found an interesting article by Tom DeMarco about software metrics. You know, like number of lines of code, functions, or fixed bugs per developer. And he mentioned an interesting idea, that I always felt to be true.

It goes like that:

Yes, metrics help to fit into the budget and cut failing projects earlier. However, imagine two projects, each with a budget of $1 million. One brings in the end $100 millions, another $2 millions. Imagine that each of them went out of control and cost in the end $2 million. For the first project, it’s not bad at all, for the second project - it’s a catastrophe.

It seems that the more software metrics matter for the project, the more useless it is.

Ah-h-h!...