Re: programmer productivity.

This may be a no win question.

We can look at the quality of the work - but it takes someone of programming 
technical expertise to do that - perhaps ask a computer auditor or consultant 
to look at two examples of the programmer work - one submitted by the 
accountants & one submitted by the programmer ... then the outside outfit 
says that this work is of a particular caliber.

It is probably healthy for a company to conduct such an audit once every 5 
years or so, as part of a general computer audit.

We can look at the complexity of the product created, implying the amount of 
work needed - but does it need to be that complex?

Sometimes a modification is needed in packaged software ... I have to spend A 
LONG TIME to analyse it to understand it well enough to modify with no damage 
& when we are finished, there are perhaps a dozen lines of code changed, but 
it took me several weeks to finish the project, because of the context.  
Someone measuring my work in terms of lines of code might think I am 
incompetent.

We can look at the perceived value to the end users - but they can be 
overjoyed with something that was simple to deliver & not interested in 
something that is really neccessary.

We can track statistics on bug discovery.  Why did we have these bugs?
Was our testing inadequate?  Was the problem with our in-house staff, or 
something we purchased.  What are national statistics on bugs in this kind of 
software - are we better or worse off than similar companies?

> I have been ask by accountants to provide them with a way to measure our
>  programmers productivity.
>  
>  
>  I know what I think is productive. fast accurate turnaround on projects.
>  
>  does anyone one else have any comments.
>  
>  thank you jeff grace


Alister William Macintyre 
Computer Data Janitor etc. of BPCS 405 CD Rel-02 on 400 model 170 OS4 V4R3 
(forerunner to IBM e-Server i-Series 400)  @ http://www.cen-elec.com Central 
Industries of Indiana--->Quality manufacturer of wire harnesses and 
electrical sub-assemblies

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