Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications
    • Development
    • IT Management

    You Have to Admit That It Hurts

    By
    Peter Coffee
    -
    October 17, 2005
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      When 216 Java development managers were asked this summer about their biggest frustrations in deploying high-quality code, 40 percent of them admitted that they dont even measure code quality in more than half of their projects; in the projects where code quality is being measured, the same group estimated that almost a third of those monitoring efforts dont begin until the project is more than half complete. Those were the findings that really jumped out at me in a report produced by the Princeton, N.J., research firm Clear Horizons and released last week by the study sponsor, the Enerjy Software division of Teamstudio Inc., in Beverly, Mass.

      I spoke with Enerjy CEO Nigel Cheshire at this years JavaOne conference and again following the release, early this month, of his companys code quality management suite Enerjy CQ2. Cheshire pulls no punches when talking about the difficulty of getting good measurement tools introduced into working development organizations: “Our whole philosophy–borne out by experience–is ZIP, Zero Impact on Process. The only way you can be successful with tools is to minimize their impact on their process day to day,” he told me during our JavaOne conversation in June. In practical terms, he continued, that means a combination of process automation, overall code quality elevation, and improvement of individual developer performance through measurement and feedback.

      When Cheshire looked at the tools available to development managers, he told me, he was struck by the degree to which they were really just project management tools rather than development management tools. I hadnt thought about the difference before, but hes right: Many tools will let you track the progress of a project by tasks and milestones, just as I used to track the progress of equipment fabrication and installation at the Exxon Chemical plant in Baton Rouge, but thats hardly the same thing as documenting the performance of each developers code as it makes its way through an automated suite of unit tests. The latter, of course, is the kind of thing that can pinpoint the sources of delay in a coding project, where the difference between an outstanding developer and a marginal contributor is more than double the difference between mediocrity and excellence in most other crafts.

      Better tools and better measurements, leading to better processes, are crucial to the reproducibility and profitability of the growing services sector in IT–a goal thats being addressed by the Technology Professional Services Association, formed last month and hitting its stride with this weeks Webcast announcement of The Service 50: the most influential solution providers. I cant tell you wholl be at the head of the list, but the Top 10 firms (in alphabetical order) will be Accenture, Affiliated Computer Services, Cisco, Computer Sciences Corp., EDS, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Sun Microsystems, Unisys and Xerox. The full Top 50 rankings will be announced on Thursday beginning at 2 p.m. EDT.

      Tell me what you measure, and whose solutions you find serviceable, at peter_coffee@ziffdavis.com

      Check out eWEEK.coms for the latest news, reviews and analysis in programming environments and developer tools.

      Peter Coffee
      Peter Coffee is Director of Platform Research at salesforce.com, where he serves as a liaison with the developer community to define the opportunity and clarify developers' technical requirements on the company's evolving Apex Platform. Peter previously spent 18 years with eWEEK (formerly PC Week), the national news magazine of enterprise technology practice, where he reviewed software development tools and methods and wrote regular columns on emerging technologies and professional community issues.Before he began writing full-time in 1989, Peter spent eleven years in technical and management positions at Exxon and The Aerospace Corporation, including management of the latter company's first desktop computing planning team and applied research in applications of artificial intelligence techniques. He holds an engineering degree from MIT and an MBA from Pepperdine University, he has held teaching appointments in computer science, business analytics and information systems management at Pepperdine, UCLA, and Chapman College.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×