System for identifying project status and velocity through predictive metrics

• US 20050289503A1
• Filed: 06/29/2004
• Published: 12/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Gregory Clifford
• Original Assignee: Gregory Clifford
• Inventors: Clifford, Gregory
• Application Number:
  US10/881,542
• Publication Number:
  US 20050289503A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/101
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A development management system and method are disclosed for providing substantially real-time monitoring of the progress of a product development and a projection of completion of the project based on objective criteria, which can be plotted against the planned time to completion and budget for a project. The principle of the development management system and method as applied to a software product development is to perform detailed and empirically sound measurements of the source code, changes being made in code, defect measurements, and productivity measurements to build a highly accurate measurement of a project'"'"'s status and velocity. The development management system and method also provide a real-time view, at a highly granular level, into the status and velocity of the project to enable projection of when the project will finish, what budget will be expected, and how each milestone of the project is progressing.

Claims

1. A method for identifying project velocity and status through predictive metrics, comprising the steps of:

harvesting artifacts produced during a software development project;

examining data sources created during development;

measuring artifacts produced during a software development project to produce metrics;

projecting the current velocity and status of a project in real time using an expert reasoning system based on causal modeling; and

generating a project velocity view by plotting the sum of the measurement of a set of objective software metrics deduced from the artifacts over time;

thereby to provide visibility into the real-time progress and status of the project.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of measuring artifacts produced during a software development project to provide metrics comprises taking detailed and empirically sound measurements of the source code, changes being made in the code, defect measurements, and productivity measurements to build a highly accurate measurement of a project'"'"'s velocity.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the artifacts comprise configuration management systems (like CVS and ClearCase), defect management systems (like Bugzilla), project management systems (like Microsoft Project), and source code for the software.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the measured metrics are object oriented metrics.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the metrics comprise at least one metric selected from among the group of metrics consisting of McCabe'"'"'s cyclomatic complexity, Halstead metrics, depth of inheritance tree, code fan-in and fan-out, lack of cohesion of methods, response for a class, number of children, defect inflow, and defect recidivism.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the Halstead metrics comprise program length and programming error.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of pinpointing what specific code, what defects, which engineers, and what processes are causing a project to deviate from the planned completion date.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising the step of suggesting remediation tasks to bring the project back on track.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of predicting early in the development cycle if the project is viable.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the viability is predicted with great accuracy.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of predicting actual costs and schedule.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of estimating the expected completion date of the project.

13. A system for identifying project velocity and status through predictive metrics, comprising:

an application program interface for harvesting data;

an engine for analyzing the data to produce metrics; and

a visualization interface/display means for presenting project velocity information.

14. A system for identifying project velocity and status through predictive metrics, comprising:

means for harvesting artifacts produced during a software development project;

means for examining data sources created during development;

means for measuring artifacts produced during a software development project to produce metrics;

means for projecting the current velocity and status of a project in real time using an expert reasoning system based on causal modeling; and

means for generating a project velocity view by plotting the sum of the measurement of a set of objective software metrics deduced from the artifacts over time;

whereby visibility into the real-time progress and status of the project is provided.