How to measure software development progress

Question

I would like to help my project manager (a non-programmer) track how quickly things get done. We have a detailed requirement spec in DOORS that allow us to track completed requirements. I have suggested this as a reasonable tracking mechanism.

Answer 1

Make sure the items you track are small enough to have some semblance of accuracy in their estimations.

There nothing that disturbs a software project as much as inaccurate estimates, and the bigger the job, the more inaccurate the estimates will be.

Put differently, to be able to accurately track project progress, you need small tasks that have relatively accurate estimates.

If you have items on your list that will take a "week or longer", there's no way you will be able to have anything close to a accurate progress report.

Answer 2

It sounds like you are looking for a burn down chart like used in scrum. I have only just recently gained some exposure to it, but it looks like a very nice concept that actually tracks progress very accurately.

However

• You have to break down in much, much smaller items than what you have listed in your requirement specification. They are way to big to estimate reliably.
• The break down have to be done by the implementers.
• THE ESTIMATES ON THOSE ITEMS HAVE TO COME FROM THE IMPLEMENTERS!

Without the bottom-up aspect of letting the doer make the estimate him-/her-self you will never achieve good estimates. Starting with top-down estimates from system requirements are fine - as long as they do not end up being the final estimates.

Answer 3

I like to use FogBugz... It works great to track not only bugs with the program but also features that need to be implemented. It does pretty well with telling you if you will make your ship date on time.

For a one man team it is free. But it is not that expensive to use the monthly plan.

http://www.fogcreek.com/FogBUGZ/