5. The Final Step: Interpretation and Change
As previously mentioned, test metrics should be reviewed and interpreted on a regular basis throughout the test effort, particularly after the application is released into production. During review meetings, the project team should closely examine all available data and use that information to determine the root cause of identified problems. It is important to look at several of the base metrics and calculated metrics in conjunction with one another, as this will allow the project team to have a more complete picture of what took place during a test.
If metrics have been gathered across several projects, a comparison should be done between the results of the current project and the average or baseline results from the other projects. Determine if the current metrics are typical of software projects in your organization. If development process changes were made for the current project, note if there were any visible effects on the metrics.
