Goal Question Metric
From Business Intelligence
The Goal/Question/Metric (GQM) Paradigm is a mechanism that provides a framework for developing a metrics program. It was developed at the University of Maryland as a mechanism for formalizing the tasks of characterization, planning, construction, analysis, learning and feedback. The GQM paradigm was developed for all types of studies, particularly studies concerned with improvement issues. The paradigm does not provide specific goals but rather a framework for stating goals and refining them into questions to provide a specification for the data needed to help achieve the goals. The GQM paradigm consists of three steps:
- Generate a set of goals
- Derive a set of questions
- Develop a set of metrics
Generate a set of goals based upon the needs of the organization- Determine what it is you want to improve. This provides a framework for determining whether or not you have accomplished what you set out to do. Goals are defined in terms of purpose, perspective and environment using generic templates: Purpose: To (characterize, evaluate, predict, motivate, etc.)the (process, product, model, metric, etc.) in order to (understand, assess, manage, engineer, learn, improve, etc.) it. Perspective: Examine the (cost, effectiveness, correctness, defects, changes, product metrics, reliability, etc.) from the point of view of the (developer, manager, customer, corporate perspective, etc.) Environment: The environment consists of the following: process factors, people factors, problem factors. methods, tools, constraints, etc.
Derive a set of questions - The purpose of the questions is to quantify the goals as completely as possible. This requires the interpretation of fuzzy terms within the context of the development environment. Questions are classified as product-related or processrelated and provide feedback from the quality perspective. Product-related questions define the product and the evaluation of the product with respect to a particular quality (e.g., reliability, user satisfaction). Process-related questions include the quality of use, domain of use, effort of use, effect of use and feedback from use.
Develop a set of metrics and distributions that provide the information needed to answer the questions - In this
step, the actual data needed to answer the questions are identified and associated with each of the questions. As data items are identified, it must be understood how valid the data item will be with respect to accuracy and how well it responds to the specific question. The metrics should be objective and subjective and should have interpretation guidelines, i.e., what value of the metric specifies the product higher quality. Generally, a single metric will not answer a question, but a combination of metrics is needed.
Once goals are defined, questions derived, and metrics developed, matrices are created to indicate their relationships and to identify single relationships that may not be cost effective.