Tag: software productivity

On April 6^th, CAST held a user group meeting on the topic of function point analysis and software productivity measurement. The meeting gathered more than 20 software measurement professionals from major companies in the banking, IT consulting, telecom, aviation and public sectors for a two-hour working session to discuss the benefits of function point analysis testing.

The event featured presentations including:

1. An IBM case study on how they worked with CAST to integrate and secure an Automated Function Point (AFP) approach with a big player in the aeronautic sector within TMA Systems
2. Functional sizing case study
3. Updates on the new CISQ standards for Automated Function Points
4. The importance of internal and external benchmarking

Last month in this space I wrote about the importance of optimizing the cost-effectiveness of Captives (i.e., Global In-House Centers) by setting metrics and enhancing process transparency for better management of them. For these management methods to work, though, an organization needs to employ automated function points as a way to way to gain insight about current costs and supplied value, which can then be used to enhance received output from current or future providers.

For Jay Ferro, CIO of the American Cancer Society, his employer’s mission hits far closer to home than those of most others in his position. The father of three boys, Ferro lost his 36-year-old wife, Priscilla, to cervical cancer in January 2007. In her memory, he founded Priscilla's Promise, a non-profit organization that brings greater awareness to cervical cancer.

During last week’s webinar on IT Transformation featuring Marc Cecere, vice president and principal analyst for Forrester Research, many questions presented by participants went unanswered due to time constraints. Because these questions are likely being asked by many in the IT arena, we asked Marc’s webinar co-host, Pete Pizzutillo of CAST to provide answers to the three most frequently asked questions.

In today’s software-driven business world, IT transformation has become an enormous component of business transformation and software risk management. This is one of the key messages delivered by Marc Cecere, Vice President and Principal Analyst for Forrester Research, during a webinar held recently on Business Transformation, which was sponsored by CAST, Inc.

The growing cost of most software development efforts can be traced back to one underlying cause – the lack of visibility into the software. As the size and system complexity grows for business critical applications -- along with the complexity of sourcing environments -- there is an increasing need for app owners, architects, and developers to truly understand their codebases. Without visibility into the implementation, it is hard for a developer to understand all the nuances of the code. This explains the disproportional amount of time that is needed for developers to identify the root cause of defects.

Kudos to Roger Sessions, the CTO of ObjectWatch. Recently, Sessions took a stand supporting “the intentional architectural design of simplicity into a software application,” which he dubbed “simplility.”

Recently, as I sat on the Northeast corridor train, the ticket-taker informed us that we would be delayed 15 minutes. As I thought about the impact on my day, a flutter of activity rippled through the cabin. Passengers called bosses, colleagues, wives and customers spreading the news. What was interesting was that the relayed news was different: some people doubled the time, others bumped it up to solid hour and, shockingly, no one made it shorter.

I cannot believe how much our education system has changed. When I went to kindergarten, most of curriculum revolved around getting along with others (a lesson some will argue never took with me) and some basic verbal skills. I learned at my daughter's kindergarten orientation that blocks and finger painting have been replaced by geography, math, science and civics.

Because CAST's quality metrics are a unique and vital addition to IBM Insight.

Speaking of software productivity, Peter Cohan of AOL's Daily Finance recently wrote about how automated software quality measurement improves IT productivity and in turn, business productivity.

Read it here.

Because CAST's quality metrics are a unique and vital addition to IBM Insight.