Metrics: a word, which is now a part of the Pentalog community vocabulary

A few weeks ago, Pierre, head of the IS Business Line, published an article on the topic of the metric system. Here is a 2nd post concerning this subject:As a follow-up of an earlier post on metrics, I would like to come back to the advantages of this system.While participating in a steering committee this week as part of improving our common practices, the subject of estimates was raised by our client. Without going into details, they asked us to assure them that we had taken into account a margin of risk in our assessments. The client had indeed noted that we had often exceeded our estimates concerning a precise aspect of the project.We approached the subject by explaining that it would be appropriate, based on the statistics between the estimated workload and actual workload, to establish a breakdown of the project into work units and assign to each one of them a development load based on these statistics.The concept was discussed. Naturally we then discussed the gradual establishment of a metrics system for the project and reminded the client of the benefits that this would incur. Those advantages that did not fail to catch his attention.We therefore explained, that by properly defining the work units, the metric system would allow for more reliable estimates and a further increase in the transparency of the method we would use to assign workloads to the functionalities of his product. This added to the fact that he would know in advance the number of days for the realization of a new feature, our client did not hesitate a moment before approving the concept.Furthermore, we also stressed that after the establishment of the metric system, time spent on a subject would be exclusively devoted to the contents of a batch rather than justifying the expenses. Indeed, this is a significant advantage for the introduction of the metric system: focusing on the contents in order to optimize them.Of course, the maturity of this system will naturally lead to the optimization of the estimates by better controlling the performance of team members. And from this point of view, everyone wins.In conclusion, I would like to note an observation I made while attending the steering committee: the subject of the metric system is now part of the Pentalog team vocabulary.