Are you looking for a way to effectively set the expectations of senior management? The Functional Readiness Matrix (FRM) is a decision-making tool that offers a simple way to represent test progress based on the functional areas or features of an application. By enabling the test team to track actual test progress against the implementation goals established early on, the FRM allows for the presentation of valid test metrics to management in a way they can understand.

Each generation of technology-from mainframe to the Internet-creates many opportunities for businesses to try new things. But with uncharted territory comes exponentially increased risks. One way to reduce risk is to implement effective software quality processes. However, the investment required to improve development and testing infrastructures can be significant. Richard Bender addresses fourteen major areas of opportunity that underscore why this investment is critical if an organization is to succeed. He covers areas such as increasing project failure rate, the limited supply of software professionals, rising support costs, and the implications of eCommerce.

How much will it cost to support your software project based on current estimations? Discover the answer to this question by using statistical estimation methods-including the S-curve and the Rayleigh curve-to help you determine where your projects are in relation to required quality and trendings to meet your post-project cost goals. Learn how to use metrics to predict post-project costs and make better release decisions based on these predictions.

In this paper, we describe our experience designing and developing a system-for acquiring and processing data from electric, gas, and water meters-among four development sites located in Switzerland, Germany, and the U.S. Some of the techniques we used for project planning and management are described. We observed that a number of multicultural variables affect the overall performance of the development team. Based on our experience, a set of recommendations is given for managing global software development teams. Although we collectively felt that a single-site project team is likely to be more efficient than a multi-site team, the diversity of ideas and skills offered by a multi-site team resulted in a product line architecture that is flexible, modifiable, and adaptable to different market requirements.