Adopting GQM-based measurement in an industrial environmental

Although software engineers generally agree that software measurement must be goal oriented, little has been published on the results of shifting to goal-orientation and still less on how to systematically make that transition. Thus, when we at Schlumberger RPS decided to adopt the Goal/Question/Metric approach, we resolved to document each step and record our experiences at each stage of the transition. This article is both a summary of our experiences and a brief description of how the GQM approach has greatly improved our measurement programs. We have tried to describe the activities in our measurement programs in a way that will help more organizations shift to goal-oriented measurement. We hope that others will also document their efforts so that the software engineering community can better understand the benefits of the GQM approach.