A successful conference
The IWSM Mensura 2014 was a successful conference with a wide variance of topics and attendees. With representatives from IFPUG, COSMIC and ISBSG in combination with representatives from Industry, Universities, IT suppliers and tool providers, it was a great event for networking and knowledge sharing. Main topics were sizing, estimation and metrics.
Sizing was dominated by COSMIC including trends to automatically generated COSMIC counts in technical environments. Simple Function Points was presented as a new methodology, an approach comparable with Indicative sizing of Nesma and with the intention to reduce the effort for sizing of software. Based on practical cases the benefits of a Nesma Enhancement Function Point count compared with a Nesma Global Function Point count was discussed. IFPUG presented the SNAP approach for the sizing of non-functional requirements.
With respect to estimation interesting topics where the estimation of application outsourcing transition and the estimation of heterogeneous solutions, where estimates are driven by the solution architecture. With respect to the Effort-Duration Trade-Off Law from Larry Putnam, the question was asked if the software estimation problem is really solved?
The most critical presentations were about metrics. From incorrect use of data, incorrect analysis of trends and quality metrics that show the same results for different levels of software complexity. Probably the best statement was the statement during the keynote ‘Lies, damned lies and software metrics’; “Keep Thinking”.
The presentations from the IWSM 2014 can be retrieved from slideshare.
About the conference
For the second time the IWSM Mensura was organized in the Netherlands to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Nesma. The conference venue was the ss Rotterdam, the former flagship of the Holland America Line, now a conference hotel. The program consisted of 33 paper presentations, 3 keynotes from Renault, ING and the Technical University of Delft, invited presentations and 8 workshops.
Detailed information on this edition of the conference can be found on the conference website 2014.iwsm-mensura.org.
Photos from the conference can be found on flicker.com/photos/iwsm-mensura.