ABSTRACT
Metrics are ways of answering questions. Without knowing the question they are there to answer, they are a waste of time. To determine the metrics you need for any project, work top-down:
• Define the goals (business and technical). What are we trying to do? (Example: build a better mousetrap.)
• Define the questions (which in turn clarify the goals). What do we mean by “
better mousetrap
”? (Example answer: requiring, designing, constructing, testing, and deploying a mousetrap.)
• Define the metrics which allow us to determine the answers to the questions. (Example “How do we build a better mousetrap?” can be extended to “
How long does it take us to build a mousetrap? How much material does it cost to build a mousetrap? Does anyone build a mousetrap faster? Given
n
mice in a house, how many can the mousetrap be expected to catch in a 24-hour period?
