6th Sense Analytics

Theory meets practice in ALM

Much has been said, read and written about application lifecycle management (ALM) in recent years. The logic goes like this: ALM is key to helping software developers work as a unified team. That's important because it helps software development meet the needs of business. Those needs? Hitting deadlines, coming on - or under - budget, and containing features asked for during the requirements gathering phase there were not dumped as deadlines loomed or the users needs changed with the march of time. As a theory, ALM is very sound. The problem, though, is that companies in the software tools business will often pitch you or the management team, on both their ALM vision and (surprise) how their tools deliver on that ALM vision. Invariably, though, companies often serve just portions of the ALM chain - like debugging and editing, compiling, modeling and architecting – rather than delivering a full, integrated suite. Result? Developers end up having to wade through a so-called “roles-based” ALM suite whose use has been mandated at a corporate level. CTOs burn IT budget on an ALM suite that goes unused by the team. No one is happy. The answer to all of this is visibility. The secret to visibility is… data and the analysis of that data. Industry analyst Evans Data this week revealed some market survey results at EclipseCon that will give solace to developers and CTOs, and that could help vendors sharpen their product development and sales and marketing game. In what will make uncomfortable reading for some suppliers, Evans found that the most popular ALM tools are the most basic – tools for editing, debugging and profilers. The least popular: modeling and design tools. Now, imagine if you could get similar information about your own operations - instead of a general market survey - and gathered in real time, rather than having to wait for an analyst’s report every six months. That’s where 6th Sense Analytics steps in. Our service will work to everyone’s advantage by letting developers, teams and organizations know what tools are being used and how they are being used. Armed with that insight, developers are longer forced to wade through bloated ALM suites and instead get software tools and upgrades that meet their needs. CTOs finally get to know which tools in the ALM chain they already have and which are being used, so they can make more informed purchasing decisions – decisions that free software development teams to get on with what they do best. Imagine that.

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