Experiences and Results from Establishing a Software Cockpit at BMD Systemhaus

What is the degree of completion of the current iteration? Are we on track? How accurate are estimates compared to actual effort? Software cockpits (software project control centers) provide systematic support for answering such questions. Therefore, like a cockpit in an aircraft, software cockpits integrate and visualize accurate and timely information from various data sources for operative and strategic decision making. Important aspects are to track progress, to visualize team activities, and to provide transparency about the status of a project. In this paper we present our experiences from implementing and introducing a software cockpit in a leading Austrian software development company. The introduction has been supported by a small-scale process improvement and a GM-based measurement initiative. Furthermore, the paper discusses challenges and potential pitfalls in establishing software cockpits and shares some lessons learned relevant for the practitioner confronted with introducing a software cockpit in an industrial setting.