"If you can't measure it you can't manage it." This statement, while not universally true, has become a cliche in modern management. It is certainly true that our inability to manage many characteristics of software systems leads to great difficulty in managing them. This module introduces the basic ideas of measurement theory and describes the different approaches that have been tried in attempts to measure the characteristics of software systems. The way that these approaches have been used in practice and their limitations are also discussed.

To introduce students to the best industrial practice in the use of quantitative methods both in the development and in the operation of computer systems and to demonstrate the inadequacy of the current state of the art.