Some factors involved in the establishment of programmer performance standards
D A Watson · ITNOW · 1969
The objective of this paper is not to develop a specific system for measuring programmer performance but to identify the factors required in such a system. As will be discussed later, performance standards are environment-dependent and therefore there can be no one system which is universally applicable. The implementation of performance standards should be treated similarly to the implementation of a computer system. The following stages are required: set the objectives; study the environment; identify factors and evaluate them, ie design the system; test them out in a pilot scheme; and implement. This paper will try to establish the objectives, consider the effect of environment, decide what factors are important and then discuss a sample evaluation that has been used. There are two groups of people who will be concerned with any scheme for measuring programmer performance. Firstly, the managers will be looking for flexible control through it. Secondly, the programmers themselves will be looking to it to give them a fair deal. The system will not get off the ground unless it is fair, is seen to be fair and it does not require an excessive recording effort.