A Lifecycle Which Incorporates Software Metrics

The traditional waterfall life cycle model of software development provides a systematic method to separate the development process into different stages with explicit communication boundaries between each subsequent stage. But the waterfall model does not provide quantitative measurements for the products of each phase in the software life cycle. The model provides a base to develop methodologies which emphasize the completeness of the documents, the use of certain disciplines, and the consistency among documents. On the other hand, it is very hard to use the model to develop methodologies which provide 1) the quantitative evaluation of the quality of the documents (products) from each phase, 2) feedback information to help the manager make management decisions, and 3) criteria for redesigning or recoding a system. To ensure the quality of software products, a common basis for more meaningful evaluation leading to better understanding of software quality must be provided.