Re: [AM] Article of Interest in CIO Magazine

Mike:

This issue of CIO seems to have more than the usual number of 
software-related articles. In addition to the one I originally recommended ("Bias Beware"), 
there is Jack Keen's Real Value column, "Avoiding the TCO Trap". TCO is 
frequently a "straw man" when dealing with new approaches to software development: 
the dearth of historical data pertaining to agile methodologies I mentioned in 
my original post makes TCO a convenient target, and a means to distract 
decision makers from more appropriate issues. The problem with TCO as a measurement 
tool is that it may paint an invalid picture of the quality of the development 
effort, and of course, like emerging requirements, it cannot be predicted with 
any accuracy. From my perspective, if 90% of the TCO of an application system 
is borne after it has been deployed, as has been suggested, it says more 
about an inappropriate system design and architecture than it does about the 
difficulty in predicting the future requirments of the system. 

The cover article you mentioned, "Bursting the CMM Hype", was particularly 
nteresting to me, as I spent a couple of years as the Director of Quality 
Assurance at Memorex Corporation in the late 1970s. I've had some concerns about the 
validity of the CMM since its inception several years ago. I recently 
revisited the CMU CMM site to find out how much had changed since a couple of years 
ago. It seems pretty much the same as it was then, except that its ssponsors 
and practitioners seem to be "owning up" to its not being the "end all, be all", 
to their great credit, regarding software quality. 

Anyway, just another great issue of CIO Magazine.

Regards,

Pete

For more information about AM, visit the Agile Modeling Home Page at www.agilemodeling.com
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