Integrating technical and management decision making using context-based measurement

This paper explores the use of measurement to support technical and management decision making in the development of complex systems. The value of measurement is evidenced by the growing trend of industrial best practice models such as PSM and CMMI. However, the resources of specialty knowledge and innovation are not always served by traditional measurement approaches that are often biased to the information needs of management or other stakeholders. Furthermore, where metrics are collected, there is sometimes insufficient evidence to demonstrate that they are adequately informing decision making processes. In this paper we present our initial findings from an investigation into measurement approaches for the integration of technical and managerial decision making. We discuss the problems of managing the development of complex systems and their implications for research and practice. In particular, we introduce a novel measurement approach, called Context-based Measurement (CbM) that exploits controlled natural language to form measurement systems that, with sufficient scope and clarity, may help to bridge the divide between specialists, their terminology and decision-making styles.