PSP metrics in support of software engineering education

This paper describes a position about use of the personal software process (PSP) metrics (W.S. Humphrey, 1995). The position presented describes how and why PSP metrics can be used in teaching and learning about software engineering. The PSP can not solve all problems that students and professionals have in developing software, but it can support and guide such software developers in establishing disciplined practices that can be analyzed and improved. The data and metrics provided by the PSP form the basis for an engineering and scientific approach to such an analysis, and they appear to provide more promise for success than any other method or tool on the horizon. These metrics also encourage and support a new, more effective paradigm for education that replaces the programming teacher with a coach that is able to give detailed, specific counselling on how students can improve.