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New Many elements of software development are stochastic
Trying to optimize stochastic processes using deterministic process optimization technique leads to a lot of insanity.
New One must keep balance.
It is true that cause and effect aren't simple. But that doesn't mean that making the effort isn't amply rewarded.

For instance, it has been repeatedly found that most bugs are found in a small fraction of the code. Research at IBM demonstrated that it is very worthwhile to measure discovered bugs/line of code in different modules, and pre-emptively rewrite any that are particularly buggy. They found that rewriting a small fraction of the software dramatically reduces ongoing maintainance costs.

That's a pretty big return on the simple bookkeeping effort of keeping track of which function a given bug was traced back to, and then computing simple statistics on that.

For another demonstration of the value of proactively dealing with bugs, look at OpenBSD. The secret of their security record is simple - any time they find a bug they reflect on the underlying mistake for that bug and then search their entire code base for similar mistakes. The results speak for themselves.

Cheers,
Ben
I have come to believe that idealism without discipline is a quick road to disaster, while discipline without idealism is pointless. -- Aaron Ward (my brother)
     When 6 Sigma doesn't apply to IT projects - (dbishop) - (16)
         Well, on the flipside of this... - (folkert)
         Don't knock it quite so quickly - (ben_tilly) - (12)
             Answering both you and Greg - (dbishop) - (11)
                 That's not my understanding. - (Another Scott) - (2)
                     I didn't say there's no place for it - (dbishop) - (1)
                         Good points. -NT - (Another Scott)
                 Measure what you want to improve - (ben_tilly) - (7)
                     And that should be cost or revenue - (dbishop) - (4)
                         As I recall, at IBM, peer code reviews to catch - (a6l6e6x)
                         You misremember that article - (ben_tilly) - (2)
                             Do you think everyone not you is stupid? - (dbishop) - (1)
                                 No. Only when they ignore important stuff. - (ben_tilly)
                     Many elements of software development are stochastic - (dws) - (1)
                         One must keep balance. - (ben_tilly)
         Let's start again. - (Another Scott) - (1)
             Your point #2 is pretty much my whole point - (dbishop)

You might, rabbit. You might.
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