Business impact, benefit, and cost of applying GQM in industry: an in-depth, long-term investigation at Schlumberger RPS

Abstract

Many success stories have been reported on specific effects of measurement, but little is known about the multiple interactions of measurement programmes with the business environment of a software organisation. This paper summarises industrial experiences with the Goal/Question/Metric (GQM) approach to software engineering measurement. They are based on long-term observation and additional detailed investigations at Schlumberger RPS. The paper reports the business impact of GQM in terms of identified benefit, cost models, and factors for successful application of GQM.