A Contextual Approach to Improving Software Metrics Practices

Even though empirical studies report less than satisfactory results with software metrics, we have limited knowledge on how to improve programs that are already implemented. On this backdrop, we report from a three-year collaborative action research project in Software, Inc., aimed at increasing the benefits of their metrics program. The perceived challenge was not to improve individual metrics, but rather to more effectively integrate the metrics program as a whole into the managerial and organizational context at Software, Inc. To organize the results, we used Pettigrew´s framework for studying organizational change, emphasizing the content, the context, and the process of the improvement effort. We considered the content of improvement through an information-centric analysis of the program as a medium for interactions between stakeholders; this analysis focused on the usage of metrics and helped redesign the program. The context was taken into account through an organization-centric analysis of management practices, organizational structures, people, and technical systems involved in executing the metrics program; this analysis focused on operation of the program and helped understand how to implement the new program. Finally, the improvement process was guided by the IDEAL model for innovating software practices; this approach helped combine different analyses into a coherent change effort. The paper presents this contextual approach to improving software metrics practices; it presents the results of applying it in Software, Inc.; and offers lessons for how managers can use contextual approaches to increase the benefits of software metrics programs.