Function Point measures the functional size of the software and not the effort involved in its design and construction. The higher the linearity found between functional size and this effort (productivity), higher the practical VALUE of the measurement obtained. The more this RELATIONSHIP is linear, more easily other measures can be extrapolated from the functional size, as the cost and effort, for example.

If it’s looked at a micro level, in assessing the size of two specific transactions, certainly the potential DEVIATION in derived productivity is high, but as we expand our sample size, we realize that the extreme situations compensate themselves and, on average, we can observe higher linearity in the relationship between effort and functional size.

Let’s think about some alternative metrics to the function point, evaluating the impact of these considerations on these metrics, for example, Lines Of Code. In the Organization as a whole, or even in a specific project, there are also situations where the counting of lines of code number is not directly related to the effort involved in the specification, documentation and testing of the project. In other words, there are two projects with dif-ferent quality requirements or increased demand in the specification, where in spite of one being more “complex” and REQUIRING more development effort, the RESULTING soft-ware has fewer code lines than the other. Not to mention the other limitations inherent in the LOC metric.

Function Point measures the functional size of the software and not the effort involved in its design and construction. The higher the linearity found between functional size and this effort (productivity), higher the practical value of the measurement obtained. The more this relationship is linear, more easily other measures can be extrapolated from the functional size, as the cost and effort, for example.

If it’s looked at a micro level, in assessing the size of two specific transactions, certainly the potential deviation in derived productivity is high, but as we expand our sample size, we realize that the extreme situations compensate themselves and, on average, we can observe higher linearity in the relationship between effort and functional size.

Let’s think about some alternative metrics to the function point, evaluating the impact of these considerations on these metrics, for example, Lines Of Code. In the Organization as a whole, or even in a specific project, there are also situations where the counting of lines of code number is not directly related to the effort involved in the specification, documentation and testing of the project. In other words, there are two projects with dif-ferent quality requirements or increased demand in the specification, where in spite of one being more “complex” and requiring more development effort, the resulting soft-ware has fewer code lines than the other. Not to mention the other limitations inherent in the LOC metric.