ABSTRACT
A fundamental problem with software cost measures is the fact that salaries and compensation vary widely from job to job, worker to worker, company to company, region to region, industry to industry, and country to country. Industry differences and differences in geographic regions and company sizes are so important that cost data cannot be accepted at face value without knowing the details of the industry, city, and company size. Also some industries such as banking and financial services and telecommunications manufacturing tend to have compensation levels that are far above US averages, whereas other industries such as government service and education tend to have compensation levels that are significantly lower than US averages. At the very least, cost comparisons should be within the context of the same or related industries, and comparisons should be made against organizations of similar size and located in similar geographic areas.
