GQM-handbook and overview of GQM-plans. A comparison of three GQM-methods and an overview of GQM-plans

The Goal/Question/Metric Paradigm (GQM) is a goal-oriented approach for the measurement of products and processes in Software Engineering, which has been applied successfully in several companies. The foundation of the GQM Paradigm has been established by Basili and Weiss in 1984 and since then evolved significantly. This document intends on the one hand to provide support for the development of GQM-based measurement programs by unexperienced people as well as a reference guide for experienced people. The document consists basically of two parts: one describing the GQM process for planning and executing a measurement program and the second part is an overview on various measurement programs. The GQM process presented in this document is the result of the unification of three GQM processes as described in Solingen&Berghout 1999, Gresse von Wangenheim 2002 and Epg 2002. In addition, further lessons learned from GQM measurement programs established by the IESE (Germany) and UFSC (Brazil) are included especially considering guidelines for the application of measurement in small software companies. However, this document is not supposed to be a complete and detailed description of the GQM process. Its objective is rather to provide an overview by integrating various experiences. This document is the result of the scientific mission of Alessandra Anacleto during July 1st 2002 and September 30th 2002 at the IESE in the context of the international cooperation project "Tailoring Software Measurement for Small and Medium Enterprises" between the Fraunhofer IESE (Germany) and the Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil) [GS00]. The goal of the cooperation project is to facilitate the establishment of software measurement in small software development organizations in order to enable efficient quantitative project management and quality and productivity improvement as a basis for the success and competitiveness of the company.