testingsense.com

deepshikha · Joined: 31 Aug 2007 Posts: 22

What Should the RTF Curve Look Like?

stone · Joined: 29 Aug 2007 Posts: 16

With any metric,we need to be clear about what the curve should look like. Is the metric defects? We want them to go down. Is it lines of code? Then, presumably, we want them to go up. Number of tests? Up.

RTF should increase essentially linearly from day one through to the end of the project. To accomplish that, the team will have to learn to become agile. From day one, until the project is finished, we want to see smooth, consistent growth in the number of Running, Tested Features.

*Running means that the features are shipped in a single integrated product.
*Tested means that the features are continuously passing tests provided by the requirements givers -- the customers in XP parlance.
*Features? We mean real end-user features, pieces of the customer-given requirements, not techno-features like "Install the Database" or "Get Web Server Running".

Running Tested Features should start showing up in the first week or two of the project, and should be produced in a steady stream from that day forward. Wide swings in the number of features produced (typically downward) are reason to look further into the project to see what is wrong.

But our purpose here is to provide a metric which, if the team can produce to the graph, will induce them to become agile. A team producing Running Tested Features in a straight line from day zero to day N will have to become agile to do it. They can't do big design up front -- if they do, they'll ship no features. They can't skip acceptance testing -- if they do, their Features aren't Tested. They can't skip refactoring -- if they do, their curve will drop. And so on.

It might be possible to game RTF. My guess, however, is that it would be easier just to become agile. And the thing is, it would take a truly evil team to respond to demands for features with lies. And I don't think there are many evil teams out there.

The reason that XP and Scrum and Crystal Clear work is that they demand the regular delivery of real software. That's what RTF is about.

By Ron Jeffries