The Economics of Software Quality

—Rex Black, President, RBCS

Poor quality continues to bedevil large-scale development projects, but few software leaders and practitioners know how to measure quality, select quality best practices, or cost-justify their usage. In The Economics of Software Quality, leading software quality experts Capers Jones and Olivier Bonsignour show how to systematically measure the economic impact of quality and how to use this information to deliver far more business value.

Using empirical data from hundreds of software organizations, Jones and Bonsignour show how integrated inspection, structural quality measurement, static analysis, and testing can achieve defect removal rates exceeding 95 percent. They offer innovative guidance for predicting and measuring defects and quality; choosing defect prevention, pre-test defect removal, and testing methods; and optimizing post-release defect reporting and repair.

This book will help you

• Move beyond functional quality to quantify non-functional and structural quality
• Prove that improved software quality translates into strongly positive ROI and greatly reduced TCO
• Drive better results from current investments in Quality Assurance and Testing
• Use quality improvement techniques to stay on schedule and on budget
• Avoid “hazardous” metrics that lead to poor decisions

Capers Jones is currently the President and CEO of Capers Jones & Associates LLC.  He is also the founder and former chairman of Software Productivity Research LLC (SPR). He holds the title of Chief Scientist Emeritus at SPR, which he founded in 1984. Capers is a well-known author and international public speaker. His research studies include quality estimating, quality measurement, software cost and schedule estimation, software metrics, and risk analysis. He has consulted at more than 150 large corporations and also at a number of government organizations such as NASA, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, Internal Revenue Service, and the U.S. Courts.  He has also worked with several State governments.

Jitendra Subramanyam is director of CAST Research Labs, bringing CAST’s technical capabilities and structural quality data alive for audiences both within and outside the company. Jitendra is also an active contributor to CISQ (www.it-cisq.org), The Consortium for IT Software Quality. Prior to joining CAST in February 2009, Jitendra was at the Corporate Executive Board, where he managed research teams serving Applications, Architecture, and Project Management executives. Jitendra holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland and a Ph.D. in philosophy of science from the University of Michigan. His doctoral thesis is on building a deterministic mathematical framework for quantum theory. 

Chapter 1: Defining Software Quality and Economic Value

Introduction

Defining Software Quality

Defining Economic Value and Defining the Value of Software Quality

Summary and Conclusions

Chapter 2: Estimating and Measuring Software Quality

Introduction

Using Function Point Metrics for Defect Potentials

Software Defect Potentials

Estimating Software Defect Prevention

Estimating Software Defect Detection and Defect Removal

Measuring Software Quality

Examples of Structural Quality Assessments

Three Problems That Distort Software Economic Analysis

Useful Rules of Thumb for Predicting Software Defect Potentials

Summary and Conclusions about Software Quality Estimation and Measurement

Chapter 3: Software Defect Prevention

Introduction

Analysis of Defect Prevention Results

Summary and Conclusions on Software Defect Prevention

Chapter 4: Pre-Test Defect Removal

Introduction

Small Project Pre-Test Defect Removal

Large System Pre-Test Defect Removal

Analysis of Pre-Test Defect Removal Activities

Summary and Conclusions about Pre-Test Defect Removal

Chapter 5: Software Testing

Introduction

Discussion of the General forms of Software Testing

The Specialized forms of Software Testing

The Forms of Testing Involving Users or Clients

Test Planning

Test Case Design Methods

Errors or Bugs in Test Cases

Numbers of Testing Stages for Software Projects

Testing Patterns by Industry and Type of Software

Testing Pattern Variations by Size of Software

Testing Stages Noted in Law Suits Alleging Poor Quality

Using Function Points to Estimate Test Case Volumes

Using Function Points to Estimates Numbers of Test Personnel

Using Function Points to Estimate Testing Effort and Costs

Testing by Developers or by Professional Test Personnel

Summary and Conclusions on Software Testing

Chapter 6: Post-Release Defect Removal

Introduction

Defect Discovery Rates by Software Application Users

Cost Patterns of Post-Release Defect Repairs

User and Industry Costs from Post-Release Defects

Summary and Conclusions on Post-Release Defects

Chapter 7: Analyzing the Economics of Software Quality

Introduction

The Economic Value of Software

The Economic Impact of Low Quality and High Quality Software

Technical Debt—a Measure of the Effect of Software Quality on Software Costs

The Impact of Software Structure on Quality

The Impact of Staff Training on Quality

The Impact of Professional Certification on Quality

The Impact of Technology Investment on Quality

The Impact of Project Management on Quality

The Impact of Quality Control Methodologies and Tools on Quality

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Software Schedules

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Software Staffing

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Software Development Effort

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Development Productivity Rates

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Development Costs

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Development Cost per Function Point

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Project Cancellation Rates

The Impact of High and Low Quality on the Timing of Cancelled Projects

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Cancelled Project Effort

The Impact of High and Low Quality Effort Compared to Average Projects

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Software Test Stages

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Testing as a Percent of Development

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Test Cases per Function Point

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Numbers of Test Cases Created

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Test Coverage

The Impact of Professional Testers on High and Low Quality

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Software Defect Potentials

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Total Software Defects

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Defect Detection Efficiency (DDE)

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Defect Removal Efficiency (DRE)

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Total Defect Removal

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Defects Delivered to Customers

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Delivered Defects per Function Point

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Defect Severity Levels

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Severe Defects per Function Points

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Software Reliability

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Mean Time to Failure (MTTF) Rate Deployment of Release

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Maintenance and Support

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Maintenance and Support Costs

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Maintenance Defect Volumes

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Software Enhancements

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Enhancement Costs

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Maintenance and Enhancement Staffing

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Total Effort for Five Years

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Cost of Quality (COQ)

The Impact of High and Low Quality on TCO and COQ per Function Point

The Impact of High and Low Quality on the Useful Life of Applications

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Software Application Tangible Value

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Return on Investment (ROI)

The Impact of High and Low Quality on the Costs of Cancelled Projects

The Impact of High and Low Quality on Cancellation Cost Differentials

The Distribution of High, Average, and Low Quality Software Projects

Summary and Conclusions on the Economics of Software Quality

Index