USING METRICS IN MANAGEMENT DECISION-MAKING

This article describes the local environmental factors that influenced the implementation of this metrics initiative and shaped the development of the MOD metrics toolkit. Describing several projects, the authors show how the metrics toolkit helped MOD determine whether a project was on schedule and within budget, when subsystems were ready to be integrated, and whether a particular test schedule made sense. The toolkit helped ensure consistent data collection across projects and increased the number and types of analysis options available to project personnel. Most important, the metrics analysis described here helped MOD project engineers and managers make decisions about project and mission readiness by removing the inherent optimism of ''engineering judgment.''