COMPLEXITY METRICS FOR SYSTEMS-DEVELOPMENT METHODS AND TECHNIQUES

So many systems development methods have been introduced in the last d ecade that one can talk about a ''methodology jungle''. To aid the met hod developers and evaluators in fighting their way through this jungl e, we propose a systematic approach for measuring properties of method s. We describe two sets of metrics which measure the complexity of sin gle diagram techniques, and of complete systems development methods. T he proposed metrics provide a relatively fast and simple way to analys e the descriptive capabilities of a technique or method. When accompan ied with other selection criteria, the metrics can be used for estimat ing the relative complexity of a technique compared to others. To demo nstrate the applicability of the metrics, we have applied them to 36 t echniques and 11 methods.