Product Code Changes
"In the short time you've been here, Ratbert, you've found a huge
number of flaws in our prototype. You're jeopardizing our schedule."
Because the quality staff never touches the actual product code,
development management tends to forget the affect that their activities
have on the source. Nobody, including the managers themselves, seems to
know why this blindspot exists. If you stop and think, then the relationship
is obvious, but in the heat of putting schedules together, bug fix times are
often dropped.
Part of the reason may be that predicting the amount of time needed for bug
fixes is hard. There are two variables and both are hard to guess
- the number of defects that will need to be fixed
- the average time to fix each one
The best hope for making these estimates is historical data. If you don't
have historical data, pick a reasonable number and assume that. When you figure
out how wrong it is, you have a basis for your next guess.
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Copyright 1998 Anne Powell
last update 3/8/98