DCG-SMS

“I am trying to develop an IT strategy for our company, but I can’t get the board to decide on a business strategy. How can I solve that problem?”

This was the question put by one CIO to DCG-SMS Managing Director, Alan Cameron a year or so ago. In this paper, Alan says, “I had a few thoughts, but I could see his issue, and, crucially, there appeared to be no standard approach. I now know that there is just such an approach – IT-CMF. It’s not a cure-all, but it is a very powerful tool to address just that sort of question.”

Download paper: ITCMF

DCG-SMS Managing Director Alan Cameron has characterized some distinct metrics behaviour patterns we’ve observed into a “Metrics Maturity Model” showing how correct use of metrics changes the way people think about managing knowledge-work such as software  development:

 Download pdf - Why Metrics Maturity Matters

Whatever the terms of an outsourcing agreement, it remains the fact that it is the client’s business that will suffer lost revenue and lost opportunities from a software application’s failure to meet the real business need. This paper explores how quantitative methods help organisations better manage the systemic risk of under-performing software projects and get better value from outsourced software suppliers.

 Download pdf: Outsourcing and Risk

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COSMIC-UserStories-French

French language version of Grant Rule’s 2010  paper on Sizing User Stories with COSMIC, translated by Sylvie Trudel, Pyxis Technologies inc. (Canada).

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Beyond Agile

Bob Marshall considers what the future holds for Agile.

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Transforming IT from Cost Centre to Strategic Enabler

This article is based on a webinar presented by Sue Rule, with Alan Cameron, Tom Cagley and Mike Harris of the David Consulting Group, broadcast by ITMPI on 4^th December 2012.

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 Estimating – delivering the impossible

Alan Cameron considers a recipe for tackling the endemic problem of IT budget overspend and schedule overruns.

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Need for an Estimation standard

Bharathi Vasanthakrishna considers the case for a recognised estimating standard

Download pdf: WhatYouMeasureIsWhatYouGet.pdf

Charles Symons investigates causal links between (a) the commonly-used performance metrics, estimating methods and processes, (b) the incentives placed on suppliers, and (c) the resulting observed performance.

 Download pdf The-DMSD

 

Bernard Londeix’s article on The Data Movement Sequence Diagram. The DMSD is a diagram that shows the sequence of Data Movements in a Functional Process.  It is particularly useful for those moving from IFPUG to COSMIC, and the visually informative aspect of the DMSD has contributed to make it popular in the COSMIC professional sphere.