A Discussion on Test Metrics--Part 1

The word " Metrics" spells out lot of value and meaningful efforts.Metrics helps us in analysing where we are and how we are.Measurement the term we use them all the time in our daily walks of life.It is there when we buy a product or when we want anlayze a man or when a buy a house...it is everywhere.So also in Testing it plays a crucial part wherein every effort that we put is measured and recorded.It is a tool that defines a Quantative measurement to let us know the current status of the project/deliverables.

How about some history of Test Metrics? Read on ... ( I read this in Wikipedia...)

In medieval Europe, local laws on weights and measures were set by trade guilds on a city-by-city basis. For example, the ell or elle was a unit of length commonly used in Europe, but its value varied from 40.2 centimetres in one part of Germany to 70 centimetres in The Netherlands to 94.5 centimetres in Edinburgh. A survey of Switzerland in 1838 revealed that the foot had 37 different regional variations, the ell had 68, there were 83 different measures for dry grain and 70 for fluids, and 63 different measures for "dead weights".[10] When Isaac Newton wrote Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687, he quoted his measurements in Parisian feet so readers could understand the size. Examples of efforts to have local intercity or national standards for measurements include the Scottish law of 1641, and the British standard Imperial unit system of 1845, which is still commonly used in the United Kingdom. At one time Imperial China had successfully standardised units for volume throughout its territory, but by 1936 official investigations uncovered 53 dimensions for the chi varying from 200 millimetres to 1250 millimetres; 32 dimensions of the cheng, between 500 millilitres and 8 litres; and 36 different tsin ranging from 300 grams to 2500 grams.[11] However, revolutionary France was to produce the definitive International System of Units which has come to be used by most of the world today.

The desire for a single international system of measurement derives from growing international trade and the need to apply common standards to goods. For a company to buy a product produced in another country, they need to ensure that the product will arrive as described. The medieval ell was abandoned in part because its value could not be standardised. It can be argued that the primary advantage of the International System of Units is simply that it is international, and the pressure on countries to conform to it grew as it became increasingly an international standard. SI is not the only example of international standardisation; several powerful international standardisation organisations exist for various industries, such as the International Organisation for Standardisation, the International Electrotechnical Commission, and the International Telecommunication Union.

I always say history is so inspiring... am i rite guys....:)

My Discussion on Test Metrics will continue in my coming Blogs...:)