num_pages: 216
description: Here's an essential reference for all managers facing the multitude of issues involved in any measurement program. Developed from an award-winning doctoral thesis at Carnegie Mellon University this is a lucid captivating analysis of organizational performance measurement. Author Robert D. Austin emphasizes the behavioral aspects of measurement situations. The focus is on people and how they react when they are part of organizational systems that are being measured. Interviews enrich the text conducted with eight recognized experts in the use of measurement to manage computer software David N. Card of Software Productivity Solutions; Tom DeMarco of the Atlantic Systems Guild; Capers Jones of Software Productivity Research; John Musa of AT&amp;T Bell Laboratories; Daniel J. Paulish of Siemens Corporate Research; Lawrence H. Putnam of Quantitative Software Management; E. O. Tilford Sr. of Fissure; plus the anonymous Expert X. A practical model for analyzing measurement projects solidifies the text -- don't start without it! From the Foreword. . . admirable . . . We believe this is a book that needs to be on the desk of just about anyone who manages anything. -- Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister From the PrefaceSome books on measurement so strongly advocate its use that they look almost exclusively at success stories. They profess to tell you how to get it right but they supply little or no detail about the consequences or likelihood of getting it wrong. Partly this is because stories of management failures are harder to find than accounts of successes for obvious People like to claim credit for successes and forget failures. But you can learn a lot from failure. So I've worked to find examples of failure and devoted a significant portion of this book to examining the examples in search of a common pattern. . . . Understanding the pattern of failure can help us avoid it. -- RDA
language: English
title: Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations
publisher: Dorset House