Bibliography of the Software Publications of Capers Jones

Books
Software Assessment Benchmarks and Best Practices (2000)
Estimating Software Cost (1998)
The Year 2000 Software Problem (1997)
Software Quality Analysis and Guidelines for Success (1997)
Applied Software Measurement 2nd edition (1997)
Patterns of Software Systems Failure and Success (1996)
Assessment and Control of Software Risks (1994)
New Directions in Software Management (1994)
Software Productivity & Quality Today: A Worldwide Perspective (1993)
Critical Problems in Software Measurement (1993)
Applied Software Measurement (1991)
Programming Productivity (1986)
Programming Productivity – Issues for the Eighties (1986)
Programming Productivity – Issues for the Eighties (1981)

Monographs
Telephone Meetings: A Tool for Inter-Center Communications
Program Quality and Programmer Productivity
Psychology, Linguistics, and Physics in North India and China
A 10 Year Retrospective of Software Engineering Within ITT
Software Quality and Industry Leadership
U.S. Industry Averages for Software Productivity and Quality
Table of Programming Languages and Levels
Critical Problems in Software Measurement
Software Quality and Productivity: The World Wide Perspective
New Directions in Software Management
Measurement and Scientific Progress
Handbook of Software Quality – What Works and What Doesn't
Handbook of Software Project Management – What Works and What Doesn't

Encyclopedia Articles
Productivity
Testing, Debugging, and Verification

Speeches, Seminars, and Conference Papers
A Survey of Programming Design and Specification Approaches
The Limits of Programming Productivity
Demographic and Technical Trends in the Computing Industry
Applied Software Measurement
Becoming Best in Class: A Survey of the State of the Art

Articles About Capers Jones
CASE and Software Productivity: A Conversation with Capers Jones
Capers Jones (Who's Who in Science and Industry)

Programming Productivity – Issues for the Eighties (1981 edition)
Paperback format; 448 pages; now out of print
Published by IEEE Computer Society
IEEE Catalog No. EHO186-7
Library of Congress No 81-84181
Computer Society Order No. 391
This version is out of print. Copies may still be present in libraries

This book contained 40 articles from the 1970's era on software productivity and quality. It was notable for being the first international publication of A.J. Albrecht's original article on Function Points, which had originally been published in the conference proceedings of the 1978 joint IBM/SHARE/GUIDE conference held in Monterey, California. It also reprinted the author's well-known 1978 article from the IBM Systems Journal that proved LOC metrics could not measure economic productivity.

Programming Productivity – Issues for the Eighties (1986 edition)
Paperback format; 462 pages
Published by IEEE Computer Society
IEEE Catalog No. EHO239-4
Library of Congress No 85-81332
Computer Society Order No. 681
ISBN 0-8186-0681-9
Available from the IEEE Press or the IEEE Computer Society
Price: Differs for members and nonmembers of the IEEE; approximately $55.00

This revised and updated edition contained 40 articles from the 1970's through 1986 era on software productivity and quality. It kept several classic older articles, such as A.J. Albrecht's original article on Function Points. It also included the famous article by the famous architect, G.M. McCue, on the design of the IBM Santa Teresa programming laboratory, and the 1978 IBM Systems Journal article on the first proof that LOC metrics are irrational.

Programming Productivity (1986 edition)
Hardback format; 280 pages
Published by McGraw-Hill, New York.
ISBN 0-97-032811-0
Available from McGraw-Hill (1-800-MCGRAW) or from technical book stores.
Price: Varies from source to source; approximately $50.00

This book contains the results of research and process assessments within IBM, ITT, and other major companies on how various factors such as tools, languages, methods, quality control, etc. affected software productivity. This is a transitional book which illustrates many productivity results using Function Points and LOC metrics side-by-side, to demonstrate the follies of LOC. This book also introduces concepts of SPR assessments, and illustrates the basic SPR assessment questionnaire.

As of late 1993, this book has been translated into four other languages besides the original English: 1) Japanese (hardback format); 2) German (Effektive Programm Entwicklung); 3) French (La Productivite en Genie Logiciel); 4) Portuguese (Produtividade no Desenvolvimento de Software).

Applied Software Measurement (1991 edition)
Hardback format; 493 pages.
Published by McGraw-Hill, New York
ISBN 0-07-032813-7
Available from McGraw Hill (1-800-2- MCGRAW) or technical book stores
Price: Varies from source to source; approximately $55.00

This book contains U.S. national averages for software quality and productivity using Function Points as the standard metric. The book also contains an extended critique of why "LOC" metrics cannot be used for large-scale studies involving multiple languages. It also contains a history of functional metrics. It includes chapters on establishing a measurement program, measuring quality, etc. Appendices illustrate SPR counting rules for source code, samples of measurement reports, and samples of an annual baseline. Much of the data was collected using the SPR assessment approach.

Assessment and Control of Software Risks (1994 edition)
Hardback format; 619 pages.
Published by Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
ISBN – 0-13-741406-4
Available from Prentice Hall and from technical book stores.
Price: Varies from source to source; approximately $50.00

This book follows the format and philosophy of a medical handbook, only this book deals with software problems rather than communicable diseases. It includes discussions of some 60 major software risks and problems (i.e., canceled projects, cost overruns, excessive schedule pressure, inaccurate metrics, etc.) together with known methods of prevention and control. This book is derived from and illustrates the usage of Software Productivity Research (SPR) assessments, rather than the SEI assessment approach. The book also contains a chapter which highlights the most common risks encountered for six classes of software: commercial, systems, contract, MIS, military, and end-user developed.

Software Systems Failure and Success (1996 edition)
Paperback format; 292 pages.
Published by International Thomson Press, Boston, MA
ISBN – 1-850-32804-8
Available from ITP and from technical book stores.
Price: Varies from source to source; approximately $45.00

This book is a detailed analysis of large software projects (> 5,000 function points or 500,000 lines of code) at two extreme ends of the spectrum: projects that were failures or total disasters at one end and projects that set concurrent productivity and quality records at the other end. Both technical and social risk factors are examined. It is an interesting observation that managerial problems and deficiencies seem to cause more software failures than any other known factor. Poor planning, poor estimating, and inadequate quality control are steps on the road to failed software projects.

Estimating Software Costs (1998)
Hardcover format, 724 pages
Published by McGraw Hill, New York, NY
ISBN 0-07-9130941
Price: About $50.00

This book is the most complete discussion of software estimation published since Dr. Barry Boehm’s 1991 Software Engineering Economics. The author designed IBM’s first software cost estimating tools in 1973. He also designed and developed the well-known SPQR/20‘ estimating tool (Software Productivity, Quality, and Reliability). This was the first commercial estimating tool built to support function points. It was also the first estimation tool to include sizing of all deliverables, and quality and reliability estimation as well as cost and schedule estimation. SPQR/20 was the precursor to the Checkpoint‚ and KnowledgePlan‚ estimation tools constructed by Software Productivity Research (SPR). The book discusses manual estimation, sizing, and then provides detailed guidance for activity-based estimating for requirements, design, inspections, all forms of testing, documentation, project management, and many other software activities. The book also discusses the method of operation of modern software cost estimating tools. The book was not limited to the estimating tools of Software Productivity Research, and Dr. Barry Boehm the designer of COCOMO, and Larry Putnam the designer of SLIM contributed chapters on their estimating approaches.

Note: In 2000 a Japanese edition was published.

Software Assessments, Benchmarks, and Best Practices (2000)
Paperback format, 659 pages
Published by Addison Wesley Longman, Boston, MA
ISBN 0-201-48542-7
Price: About $40.00

Over the years Software Productivity Research has performed software assessments for about 600 companies and government groups and gathered data on roughly 12,000 software projects. This book summarizes more than 10 years worth of data on how software is developed and maintained in the United States. The book starts with an introduction to software assessments and covers both the SPR and SEI assessment methods. The book then moves to six major sections, with each section dealing with the best practices and results for a specific form of software. The forms of software include systems software, information technology software, outsourced software commercial software, military software, and end-user software. Each section follows a similar format and includes quality and productivity ranges, and also quantitative best-in-class results. The book also includes extensive discussions of the best-in-class practices observed for each of the six forms of software.

Telephone Meetings: A Tool for Inter-Center Communication
(IBM Technical Report TR 02.764)
Paperback format; 14 pages.
Published by IBM Corporation, San Jose, California
This monograph is now out of print; libraries may have copies; some topics excerpted elsewhere.

This monograph discusses a pioneering attempt by IBM to use telephone conference calls for serious technical information exchanges. As many as 20 employees in 16 cities were linked together to discuss topics of common interest, such as coordinating IBM's operating system publications. The telephone meeting approach was successful and cost effective.

Program Quality and Programmer Productivity
(IBM Technical Report TR 02.764)
Paperback format; 78 pages; June 1975; 2nd edition, January 1977; now out of print.
Published by IBM Corporation, San Jose, California
This monograph is now out of print; some sections have been reprinted separately in Programming Productivity – Issues for the Eighties.

This was the first quantification of IBM's productivity and quality levels to be released to the outside world. In the late 1970's this was the most popular technical report ever published by IBM, with more than 10,000 copies in print. Libraries may still have copies available. It contained the results of internal assessments and productivity studies from within IBM. Those interested in software assessment methods who are also familiar with IBM's internal politics should note that this report was based on the assessment approach developed by IBM's West Coast labs (i.e., San Jose, Palo Alto, Santa Teresa, etc.) while the Watts Humphrey (SEI) assessment approach originated in IBM's East Coast labs (i.e., Poughkeepsie, Endicott, Kingston, etc.) It is a tribute to IBM's strong technology base that the two most widely used software assessment approaches were both pioneered more or less concurrently within IBM.

Psychology, Linguistics, and Physics in Northern India and China from the 6th Century B.C. to the 9th Century A.D.
Paperback format; 18 pages; June 1977.
Published privately by Capers Jones.
Available upon request from Capers Jones

This monograph deals with the root origins of a number of software and computing concepts that were being explored many centuries before computers and software existed. Most Westerners, including computer scientists, are unaware that binary numbers originated in China more than 2,500 years ago. Although the German mathematician Liebnitz brought the concept of binary numbers to European consciousness, he himself learned of the approach from a returning missionary who had been living in China. The concept of meta-languages and, indeed, many modern linguistic concepts were brought to fruition at the famous University of Nalanda, in Northern India. This university was the largest in the world for more than 1,200 years and had a scientific curriculum that would not be far behind contemporary universities.

A 10 Year Retrospective of Software Engineering Within ITT (May 15, 1988)
Paperback format; 19 pages
Published by Software Productivity Research, Inc.
Available upon request from SPR or James Frame & Associates

This monograph was written to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the founding of the ITT Programming Technology Center in Stratford, Connecticut (it was founded in 1978). This center was one of the pioneering software research centers in the United States. At its peak, the PTC had a staff that approached 150 employees and was doing very innovative research in the domains of object-oriented methods, reusability, measurement, estimation, CASE, group development methods, and many other topics. A number of well-known industry figures, such as Dr. Ted Biggerstaff; Dr. Brad Cox; Dr. Bill Curtis; Robert Dunn; Dr. Tom Love; Tom Lutz; Dr. John Manley; Dr. Claude Walston; the author, Capers Jones; and James H. Frame, the ITT Vice President of Programming, were working at the PTC during its peak in the 1979 - 1984 years. The sale of ITT's telecommunications units to Alcatel triggered the closure of both of ITT's major U.S. research labs, the Programming Technology Center in Stratford, Connecticut, and the Advanced Technology Center in Shelton, Connecticut.

Software Quality and Industry Leadership
Paperback format; 55 pages; May 1988
Published by Software Productivity Research, Inc.
This document is now out of print, but the concept has been reprinted many times.
The basic points were merged into the 1991 book, Applied Software Measurement.

This report, produced for one of SPR's annual conferences, put forth two emerging laws of business operations for the 21st century – Law 1: Mastery of computers and software is necessary for corporate survival, and Law 2: Quality control is necessary in order to master computers and software. The corollary is that companies which lag or fall behind in software engineering and quality control have a good chance of going out of business before the end of the century.

U.S. Industry Averages for Software Productivity and Quality
Paperback format; 23 pages; August 1988
Published by Software Productivity Research, Inc.
This document is now out of print; newer data was published in 1991 in Applied Software Measurement.

This was the first publication which attempted to consolidate software productivity and quality data for the United States, using Function Points as the metric of choice. The data was based on the collected studies of SPR and Capers Jones and included military software, MIS software, system software, commercial software, etc. This kind of work needs to be updated frequently, so this original version was withdrawn after publication of Applied Software Measurement in 1991.

Table of Programming Languages and Levels (8 Versions from 1985 through April of 1996)
The current (8th) version of this monograph contains the average expansion ratios from source code statements to Function Points for some 487 programming languages. (About 40 new languages were added since Version 7.0, and another 35 or so languages are awaiting evaluation.) This monograph has been widely circulated throughout the industry and is the primary source of data for "backfiring" or converting source code statements into an equivalent quantity of Function Points. Version 8.0 includes exact, quantified definitions for high, medium, and low-level languages based on the number of statements required to implement one Function Point. The same technique is used to define 1st through 5th generation languages.

Critical Problems in Software Measurement (April 1993)
Notebook format; 105 pages
Published by the IS Management Group, Carlsbad, CA.
ISBN 1-56909-000-9
Price: Approximately $180.00

This monograph gives detailed illustrations and examples of the technical problems dealing with software measurement. Examples of the problems include: A) identifying specific project classes and types, B) variances in charts of accounts used for hard data collection, C) ambiguity in dealing with enhancements, deletions, and reuse, and D) paradoxical nature of Lines of Source Code metrics, etc. The monograph includes the first publication of a controversial proposal: That "Lines of Source Code" are so ineffective that use of them should be considered to be professional malpractice starting in 1995.

Software Productivity and Quality – The World Wide Perspective (April 1993)
Notebook format; 152 pages
Published by the IS Management Group, Carlsbad, CA.
ISBN 1-56909-001-7
Price: Approximately $200.00

This monograph is an overview of software demographics, software usage, volumes of software installed, and productivity and quality levels. Partial data is provided for about 60 countries, with the data being expressed in the Feature Point metric. The data is provisional and known to be unreliable. However, as of late 1993 there are no other sources available which compress so many countries' software experiences into a single volume. Software demographic and management population data for more than 200 international cities, more than 50 U.S. cities, all states, etc., is included.

New Directions in Software Management (1994 edition)
Notebook format; approximately 160 pages
Published by the IS Management Group, Carlsbad, CA.
ISBN 1-56909-009-2
Price: Approximately $200.00

This monograph contains selected reprints of Capers Jones' articles from journals such as American Programmer, CASE Outlook, CASE Trends, Knowledge Base, and many others. The focus is on software measurement, management, productivity, reusability, and the geriatric technologies for dealing with legacy systems. This monograph also repeats and illustrates the author's proposal that "lines of code" metrics should be declared to be professional malpractice if used for cross-language comparisons.

Measurement and Scientific Progress
(Publication date unscheduled)
Paperback format; approximately 75 pages.
Not yet in print; work still in progress
Not yet available.

This monograph traces the intertwined history of measurement and science from ancient China, India, and Greece to the modern era. It discusses the origins of binary numbers in China, the development of the concept of zero, and how measurements have been applied to all known forms of scientific endeavor. The monograph is organized chronologically by topic. Examples of the contents include: A) measurement of the primary physical forces, B) measurement of morbidity and epidemiology, C) measurement of optical phenomenal, D) measurement of probability and chance, E) measurement of the passage of time from ancient eras through today, and F) measurement of social phenomena, etc.

Handbook of Software Quality – What Works and What Doesn't
(Publication date unscheduled)
To be published by International Thomson Press
Not yet in print, work still in progress
Early versions distributed to SPR clients

This monograph attempts to cover every tool, method, and approach that can influence software quality by as much as 1%. The monograph quantifies the observed reports of many kinds of tools and technologies, including but not limited to formal inspections, all kinds of testing, quality function deployment (QFD), total quality management (TQM), the ISO 9000-9004 standards, the DoD 2167 and 498 standards, etc. In a nutshell, formal inspections prior to testing, automated test tools, trained testing specialists, and formal software quality assurance (SQA) functions correlate strongly with Best in Class results.

Handbook of Software Project Management – What Works and What Doesn't
To be published by Software Productivity Research, Inc.
Early versions distributed to SPR clients.

This book covers more than a dozen interrelated topics that affect software project management: assessments, sizing, estimating, tracking, measurement, planning, benchmarking, etc. The book attempts to show which technologies have added value to software project management tasks, and which have caused trouble.

Conflict and Litigation Between Software Clients and Developers
Updated annually between 1995 and 2001
Published by Software Productivity Research, Inc. to clients and attorneys

This monograph of 75 pages summarizes the author’s observations as an expert-witness in more than a dozen software lawsuits between 1995 and 2001. The purpose of the monograph is to inform both vendors and clients of common problems, so that litigation can be avoided in the future. The problems that are cited in breach of contract litigation are surprisingly similar from case to case. The clients charge that the software was not developed on time or within budget, and either did not work or had poor quality when delivered. The vendors claim that the requirements were expanded unilaterally by the client, and that the client did not cooperate or perform their proper roles of review and approval. However the root causes of breach of contract litigation can be traced back to failure to include requirements changes and quality issues in the contracts themselves. The monograph suggests some methods for eliminating the most common technical problems noted during breach of contract litigation. Separate sections cover litigation dealing with tax issues and ascertaining the taxable value of software.

"Productivity" in Encyclopedia of Software Engineering (Scheduled for Winter of 1993)
Wiley Interscience, John Wiley and Sons
Hard cover format; approximately 15 pages (this section)
Encyclopedia scheduled for publication in Winter of 1993
Price: Undetermined

This encyclopedia topic, on software productivity, illustrates both the hazards of LOC metrics and the value of functional metrics for large-scale data collection. It also includes short discussions of the topics which influence productivity and contains approximate averages for major types of software, in terms of observed productivity.

"Testing, Debugging, and Verification" in Electrical Engineering Handbook
CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL; June 1993; approximately 15 pages (this section)
Price: Varies with source or purchase; approximately $75.00

This encyclopedia topic covers the various kinds of reviews, inspections, and tests which are used to remove software defects or bugs. It also mentions, although not in depth, various kinds of defect prevention approaches as well. The section contains current data on defect removal efficiencies of most forms of review, inspection, and test.

"A Survey of Programming Design and Specification Approaches"
Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Specifications of Reliable Software, April 1979
Reprinted in Programming Productivity – Issues for the Eighties

This paper was among the first to measure the costs of software specifications. It contained an alarming discovery that the specifications of large systems were notably incomplete and often described only about half of the functions in the code itself. It also surveyed various architecture and design methods for software. The conclusions were that specifications were so enormous, so costly, and so incomplete that they were blocking the progress of software towards becoming an engineering discipline. The topic of "creeping user requirements" was also touched upon in this report.

"The Limits of Programming Productivity"
Proceedings of the Joint SHARE/GUIDE/IBM Application Development Symposium, Monterey, California; October 1979.
Reprinted in Programming Productivity – Issues for the Eighties

This paper explored the technologies which improved software productivity by 25%, by 50%, and by 75% compared to IBM and national norms. The paper concluded that conventional tools and methods quickly ran out of steam. Only full-scale reusability of substantial quantities of software deliverables could achieve the 75% plateau. (Historical note: This same conference was where A.J. Albrecht first discussed Function Points and placed them in the public domain. The author, Capers Jones, requested and received permission to reprint the Albrecht paper in Programming Productivity – Issues for the Eighties.)

"Demographic and Technical Trends in the Computing Industry"
Proceedings of the Eighth Data-Structured Systems Design (DSSD) Users' Conference,
July 1983.
Reprinted in Software State of the Art – Selected Papers; Dorset House; 1990

When ITT was planning on entering the CASE arena, they commissioned some studies of the software demographics of both the U.S. and the rest of the world. This paper contained some quantitative data on the number of programmers in various industries. It represents the starting point of SPR's current demographic studies.

"Applied Software Measurement"
(Contains about 500 viewgraphs.)
Offered since 1989 as a public seminar in the United States through Digital Consulting, Inc. (DCI).
Offered as a private seminar in the United States and as a public or private seminar in Europe, Asia, and overseas by Software Productivity Research, Inc. (SPR).
Course materials available only to registered students, or to clients of SPR, Inc.
Price: Public version $895.00 per student

This two-day seminar includes sections on Problems and Paradox of Historical Metrics, U.S. National Averages for Software Productivity and Quality, Ranges and Variances, International Software Quality and Productivity, Establishing a Measurement Program, Performing Assessments and Measuring "Soft" Factors, and Measuring Software Quality and User Satisfaction. Also includes discussions of baselining, creating improvement plans, and many other topics. This course is updated frequently to include new topics such as ISO 9000, the Baldrige Award, Quality Function Deployment (QFD) etc.

"Becoming Best in Class: A Survey of the State of the Art"
(Contains about 500 viewgraphs.)
To be offered as a private seminar in the United States and as a public or private seminar in Europe, Asia, and overseas by Software Productivity Research, Inc. and Digital Consulting, Inc.
Course materials available only to registered students or to clients of SPR, Inc.
Price of public version: Undetermined but approximately $895.00 per student

This two-day seminar includes sections on the measured results of world-class enterprises in terms of productivity, quality, and technologies. It also covers a six-stage, multi-year program for improving software development and improving software maintenance. Other sections discuss the return on investment of more than 60 software technologies, including, but not limited to, the object-oriented paradigm, client/server architectures, reviews, and inspections, etc. The six stages on the path to becoming Best in Class are the following:

•	Stage 1 Focus on Management
•	Stage 2 Focus on Methodologies
•	Stage 3 Focus on New Tools and Approaches
•	Stage 4 Focus on Infrastructure
•	Stage 5 Focus on Reusability
•	Stage 6 Focus on Industry Leadership

Although reusability has the highest return on investment of any technology, only high-quality materials can be safely reused. Therefore, reuse must be delayed until software methods, tools, and experience levels are good enough to produce reusable materials safely.

"CASE and Software Productivity: A Conversation with Capers Jones"
Written by Mickey Williamson.
CASE Strategies, Volume 2, Number 9; September 1990.
Reprints available from the publisher.

This article describes a long and wide-ranging interview between the editor of CASE Strategies and the author on topics such as the real value of CASE, the probable architecture or workable repositories, the problems of moving toward CASE, and many other topics.

"Capers Jones"
Who's Who in Science and Engineering; Marquis Press; 1991 forward.

This is a standard biography in the format normally used by the "Who's Who" series. It includes birth date, marital status, employment, academic background, awards, significant achievements, etc.

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