DCG-SMS

Papers

• Reducing Risk in Outsourcing Grant Rule's presentation to the 2007 Risk Management seminar considers the threats to achieving a successful outcome which arise when software development is outsourced, and some successful strategies for mitigating these risks.
• Accurate Early Estimating with Rules Relative Size Scale Grant Rule's quick and easy guide to accurate early estimating of software project size, costs, and viability based on clothing sizes.
• 201305 Outsourcing and Risk 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. It is the client’s business which is impacted by the delayed implementation of new software. It is the client’s money that is wasted by poor process performance. Contract terms can at best share the pain with a supplier; they do not prevent the damage occurring. The organisation which owns the requirement owns the risk. Successful outcomes from outsourced applications development depend on the effectiveness of the end-to-end process of turning business need into software requirements and delivering those requirements.
• 201304 Why Metrics Maturity Matters Over our years in practice as metrics specialists, DCG-SMS consultants have come across much misunderstanding of the role of measurement in managing the software development process. Mistrusted metrics, misapplied metrics, multitudinous metrics all result in marginal metrics – measures that are sidelined, and not used effectively to drive better performance, better results, better value.
• 201301 TransformingIT This article looks at how evidence-based decision-making informed by intelligent use of metrics underpins successful management of IT performance. It considers the business case for leveraging better value from IT, how to measure and manage IT value, and the lessons which can be learned from Agile software development.
• 201301 Flowchain: Beyond Agile The uptake and rate of success has little to do with Agile or Lean per se, and all to do with the fundamental shift in how managers and workers see the world of work. The challenge has nothing much to do with the relatively simple adoption of a new methodology or set of tools, and everything to do with a fundamental revolution in the way organisations are managed, led, structured and run.
• 201212 Mesurer la taille des scénarios utilisateurs avec la méthode COSMIC French language version of Grant Rule's 2010 paper on Sizing User Stories with COSMIC, translated by Sylvie Trudel. L’application de la méthode COSMIC d’analyse des points de fonction aux scénarios utilisateurs (user stories) fournit aux développeurs et propriétaires de produit un moyen simple et rapide pour mesurer la taille fonctionnelle de chaque scénario.
• 201212 ITCMF Another Framework and a Masterstroke ITCMF is about focus – management focus – making IT into part of the business and capable of driving profit and value. No more should IT be seen as a service that simply costs money, or as a drag on the business.
• 201209 Need for an Estimation Standard Businesses often complain of the lack of consistency in Estimations, non- availability of benchmarks and the inability to compare projects of similar nature. This raises the question: Do business houses and IT organisations require a special set of Estimation standards?
• 201209 Estimating - Delivering the Impossible Estimating - Delivering the Impossible is, ahem, still impossible. The UK Government’s National Audit Office recently reported that the new Immigration Casework System development project was 6 months overdue and £385m overspent. Why is this such a common story, and what can be done about it?
• 201206 Data Movement Sequence Diagram The Data Movement Sequence Diagram 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 made it popular in the COSMIC professional sphere.
• 201110 Predictable Pricing for Agile Delivery Download Predictable Pricing for Agile Grant Rule's presentation to the 2011 International Software Metrics and Estimating conference in London looks at managing software development costs and pricing using Output Based Contracts, and how these can be use...
• 201110 An Agile Approach to Software Contracts Grant Rule considers how output based contracts support transparency and trust in outsourced partnerships.
• 201109 Using Models and Standards An article for Methods and Tools magazine on how to make best use of quality and improvement models, standards and frameworks. The map is not the territory!
• 201101 All You Wanted to Know About Software Measurement An SMS guide to the uses and benefits of functional size measurement, including a comparison of the main FSM methods and tips on good estimating practice.
• 201011 Functional Size Measures Compared A comparison of the most commonly used Functional Size Measurement methods compiled by P. Grant Rule. Download FSM Methods Compared - PGR v1i...
• 201010 The Marshall Model of Organisational Evolution (pub 2010) In order to improve effectiveness it is necessary to understand the environment you are starting from and where you are trying to go. This paper offers insights into ways of thinking and behaving associated with success.
• 201010 SMS Partners with the NCC to deliver the IT Department Accreditation Welcoming SMS to the NCC’s ITDA team, the NCC’s Managing Director, Steve Fox, said: "We are delighted to welcome SMS as a partner for the IT Department business improvement and Accreditation service (ITDA). SMS' extensive experience in performance measurement will be a great asset in taking the ITDA scheme forward."
• 201010 Lean Enterprise Architecture: Making the Change Market leaders predictably deliver what their customers want ten times faster and eight times cheaper than "the norm". Sue Rule looks at what makes the difference.
• 201007 How to Win Hearts & Minds For Your Next Change Programme (pub 2010) Many enterprising software professionals recognise the opportunity for doing things more effectively. Many more express the opinion, "things can't go on like this". If this rings a bell with you, this paper offers some insights into how to communicate the opportunity and enthusiase your colleagues and bosses with a will to change.
• 201006 Components of a well-formed User Story (pub 2010) Using requirements development good practice for writing of User Story Cards provides developers and product owners with a simple means to improve the understandability of each story. Increasing the understandability will reduce re-work which will concomitantly increase productivity and velocity and reduce defect density, etc.
• 201005 Sizing User Stories with COSMIC (pub 2010) Incorporating the COSMIC software sizing method into the use of User Story Cards gives developers and product owners a quick and simple measure of development output. This can be combined with other measurements to determine metrics such as productivity, velocity and defect density.
• 201001 Lean Enterprise Architecture (Pub 2010) There’s an elephantine gulf between the potential of the software creative process and the effective delivery of value to business users and customers. recognising
• 200909 What You Measure is What You Get   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 perf...
• 200908 Effective Project Management (pub 2009) Alison Marsden takes a practical look at what we mean by effective project management, and how to achieve it.
• 200810 Are all executives unethical? Doing the right thing - the moral case for Rightshifting (pub 2008) Bob Marshall argues that, in the absence of objective evidence, it’s simply unethical for executives to believe that product and software development in their organisations is reasonably effective.
• 200805 Delivering ROI on Software Process Improvement (pub 2008) To really deliver better value from IT, the core process to address is the basic business model itself – how both parties negotiate and manage projects to mutual advantage.
• 200801 Measurement for Automotive SPICE (pub 2008) Many factors concur to make modern day cars more complex and Automotive SPICE provides a useful framework for assessing the capability of the automotive suppliers. As with any quality improvement programme, measurement is at the core of Automotive SPICE.
• 200711 Painting by numbers: Using visible measures for lean management (pub 2007) Lean processes cannot be implemented effectively without judicious use of objective measures, visible to the creative and customer-facing staff.
• 200706 Risk and the CMMI (pub 2007) Managing project risk is about identifying and mitigating both the known and unknown threats to performance.
• 200703 Delivering Value from Outsourcing (pub 2007) Professional software supply companies, whose core competencies include the exploitation of IT, should be able to run projects more predictably and cost effectively than an organisation's in-house staff. So why is it the newspapers still report major software disasters?
• 200701 Output Based Contract Management (pub 2007) Considering performance measures and the quality of the relationship as the primary management tools in outsourcing partnerships.
• 200612 Sizing software by counting 1-2-3 (pub 2006) Studies have shown that the sizes of software that has relatively simple elementary processes measured by both the IFPUG and the COSMIC-FFP methods correlate quite well. But as the average size of processes increases, the fact that the IFPUG measurement scale suddenly stops causes serious distortions. Charles Symons argues the case for the change to COSMIC for performance measurement or estimating for software with larger, complex transactions.
• 200612 Engaging Middle Managers (pub 2006) Achieving buy-in from middle management is crucial for achieving a successful transformation of the software process. Jill Pritchet looks at effective ways of overcoming barriers to change, both real and perceived.
• 200612 Benefits of Credible Metrics (pub 2006) Managing software activities without proper metrics to support decision-making is not much better than guesswork. COSMIC supports the effective and professional management of any software metrics programme.
• 200606 A CAI State of the Practice Interview with Charles Symons (pub 2006) This interview between Charles Symons and Michael Milutis, Executive Director of the IT Metrics and Productivity Institute, was conducted in June of 2006.
• 200510 The End of Software Engineering in the West (pub 2005) In the UKSMA Ian Drummond Memorial Lecture of 2005, Tony Rollo considered the dangers of failing to learn the lesson that industries survive by focussing on quality, quality - and price.
• 200509 ISBSG Standard Benchmarking Process (pub 2005) ISBSG Standard for Benchmarking is based upon the ISO 15939 Standard for Software Measurement. This presentation outlines the perceived reasons for such a standard.
• 200501 Rules Relative Size Scale (pub 2005) Using a simple "small-medium-large" scale for estimating project size enables early and accurate prediction of the cost, effort and viability of a proposed project.