Reducing Software Maintenance Costs

Flipping the 80/20 Rule for Software Maintenance

Discuss the 4 types of Maintenance: (taken from http://galorath.com/software_maintenance_cost)

• Corrective maintenance – costs due to modifying software to correct issues discovered after initial deployment (generally 20% of software maintenance costs)
• Adaptive maintenance – costs due to modifying a software solution to allow it to remain effective in a changing business environment (25% of software maintenance costs)
• Perfective maintenance – costs due to improving or enhancing a software solution to improve overall performance (generally 5% of software maintenance costs)
• Enhancements – costs due to continuing innovations (generally 50% or more of software maintenance costs)

Discuss the critical issues with each of these

Discuss how Accelerator reduces them significantly

Technical Debt

Some Links

• The 4 Hidden Costs of Code Maintenance - this is a good read with perfect info for this blog. The Critical Issues Discussed are
  • Steep learning curve (faced by developers working with someone else’s code)
  • Insufficient research and planning
  • Duplication of effort
  • Poor compliance with coding standards and practices
• The 60/60 Rule
• Software Maintenance Costs (SMCOSTS.pdf) Good info
• Software Maintenance Costs - Part 3
• Which Factors Affect Software Projects Maintenance Cost More?
• Software Maintenance: Understanding and Estimating Costs
• ACCURATELY ESTIMATE YOUR SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE COSTS