Communicating internal software quality

Bridging the gap & avoiding dissatisfied coders

Initial Situation

• Business managers ask for a fast implementation of features. Those have to work without bugs, which correlates with a high level of external quality.

• Developers are additionally interested in a good maintainability of the source code. They strive for a high level of external as well as internal quality.

Internal software quality 2

External vs. Internal quality

Developers are encouraged to focus on external quality and neglect internal quality, which results in higher costs for code development and maintenance.

External quality Internal Quality

Properties Visible Features, Meet Requirements, Test Case Fulfillment, etc.

Maintainability, Documentation, Structure of Source code

How to show KPIs (e.g. number of bug reports, testing activities, ...) Lack of tools for explaining to non-technical audience

Appreciation akshd?

Software Map LegendGround floor area: Real lines of codeHeight of buildings: Level of complexityColor: Amount of coding activities

High “buildings” indicate highly complex code. Red “buildings” show that the code is modified frequently.

The Solution Approach

Internal software quality 3

A solution for communicating internal quality

• IT Management has to mediate:

– Business Managers ask why costs for implementation projectsare so high.

– Developers feel misunderstood as they cannot communicate the reason why development has become so slow.

• Working on complex source code is time consuming & error-prone.

• Software Maps provide a solution for visualizing the internal qualityof the software. The analysis can be configured for displaying thecode complexity in relation to coding hotspots.

The Solution Approach

Internal software quality 4

A solution for communicating internal quality

• IT Management has to mediate:

– Developers want to show their work done, which does not relate to features.

– Business Managers can hardly understand the effects of and the need for such measures.

• Improvements to source code quality cannot be communicated.

• Software Maps provide a solution for visualizing im-provements to the internal quality of the software. Due to the improved structure, future coding activities will be carried out faster and with fewer bugs.

• By making this effort and success visible, it can be acknowledged and rewarded.

Green “roofs and stripes ” indicate, that the code complexity has been reduced over the last 3 months.

High “buildings” indicate highly complex source code.

Software Map LegendArea: Real lines of codeHeight: Level of complexityColor of building: Amount of coding activitiesColor of Roofs & Stripes: Change in code complexity worse

better

Results

Internal software quality 5

Encouraging internal software quality

• Thanks to the visualization as Software Maps, Internal as well as external quality can be assessed and understood by all individuals involved, regardless of their technical background,

• Improvements in internal quality can be communicated and appreciated. Henceforth, internal and external quality can be taken into account when estimating budgets, and software quality is no longer solely a topic of the software developers.

Delight!

Results for Management Results for Developers

More reliable cost estimation for project planning Faster implementation of new features

Increased productivity Less time consumed for altering source code

Reduced risk of software failure, hence reduced business risk Reduced risk of introducing new bugs

Faster time-to-market Faster bug fixing

Thanks for your attention!

email: mail@seerene.com