Re: cobol code assessment
- From: Louis Krupp <lkrupp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 15:35:55 -0700
Pete Dashwood wrote:
<apple.time@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:1138416722.370897.6450@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
My boss just asked me to do a Cobol code assessment for our company. He has given me no guidelines on what is expected of me. I have worked with cobol for 20 years, so I know it quite well. I am not to use any 'tools' for creating metrics on the code. I guess the company is trying to decide if our programs are 'good enough', or whether we should be rewriting them in some newer technology. We have both on-line systems for data entry and batch processing. They want me to have an analysis for them in a week. HELP! What do I do? fyi... I plan to talk to everyone on the team.... from programmers, system analysts, data base administrators, help desk, users, etc. But, they want me to examine the CODE itself as well. This is the piece that I am unsure of. If you have any web addresses of how to do this, it would be MOST appreciated. Also, if any of you have done this, if you could show me your final analysis (without the company identifying information, of course!) THANKS
I browsed through the thread and you have received some excellent responses and advice.
However, I have the following observations:
1. Managers who can't communicate clear requirements need to be "trained" by the people who work for them. Instead of posting to a forum saying you have no idea what is wanted and requesting help, I would suggest sitting down with your boss and asking him to clarify what exactly he wants and what his goals are. Tell him you need some direction. (It is ostensibly his job to give it to you...). Tell HIM you have no idea what is wanted or how to go about delivering what he needs. Get HIM to think about what he actually wants, so that neither your time nor his is wasted.
2. What kind of manager asks you to do a job, then says you can't use tools? :-) Managers who set their staff up to fail are best avoided...
3. Find out exactly what HE means by "assessment". There are many possible assessments you could make of the code and some very useful ones have been pointed out right here. But which of them is what he requires?
4. Managers have a right to manage, but staff have a right not to accept tasks that are not properly defined or simply pointless. Tell him you don't feel able to provide what he wants or needs without further clarification. In order to provide something of value, you need to understand what aspects of the code need to be assessed, and how the assessment will be used.
Using metrics is a very good way to avoid bias and opinion affecting the outcome. Why would he NOT want you to do this?
It is easy to speculate on why this assessment is being made, but it would be a lot simpler to just ask him.
If I were you, I wouldn't undertake this without a much clearer picture of what you are supposed to be assessing.
Far too often, people just do what they are told (or attempt to...) and this doesn't help bad managers get to be better ones.
As an alternative, the OP might want to spend a short time coming up with a plausible assessment strategy, see if it meets the boss's approval, and then if it doesn't, ask for clarification. It can't hurt to treat the boss as if he were a reasonable person who just needs a little guidance on *how* to think about the problem. If "metrics" is a bad word, then talk about counting lines of code or something without using the word "metrics."
(Yes, I have reported to people with whom this approach wouldn't have worked for various reasons, all of which are reasons to consider finding another job.)
Louis .
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