The International Workshop on Software Measurement (IWSM) and the International Conference on Software and Systems Process and Product Measurement (MENSURA) bring together academic researchers and industry practitioners to exchange ideas, validate new approaches, and discuss practical improvements in software measurement.
On September 23, 2026, the COSMIC Annual Meeting was held in Izmir, Türkiye. Members of the COSMIC Advisory Council and Executive Committee participated in the meeting, with some attending in person and others joining online.
The meeting covered Executive Committee elections, committee activities, key COSMIC projects, and software measurement practices across different countries and regions.
Executive Committee Elections and Appointments
The meeting began with a review of the agenda and the minutes of the 2025 annual meeting. Both were unanimously approved.
Colin Hammond was elected as COSMIC Chair for a three-year term, while Donatien Koulla Moulla continued as Vice-Chair for another three-year term.
Ling Guo was elected as a member of the COSMIC Advisory Council for a one-year term. All election results were unanimously approved.
Appointments were also made to COSMIC’s specialist committees. Alain Abran was appointed Chair of the Measurement Practices Committee, while Ling Guo was appointed Chair of the Certification Committee.
These committees support the continued development of the COSMIC method, its certification framework, and its practical application in the software industry.
Advancing COSMIC Certification
The Certification Committee reported on its activities over the past year.
COSMIC certification helps software engineering professionals develop and demonstrate their knowledge of COSMIC functional size measurement and its measurement rules through training and examinations.
As the use of COSMIC expands across countries and regions, certification remains an important link between the measurement method and the professionals who apply it in practice.
Sharing Measurement Practices
The Measurement Practices Committee focuses on the application of COSMIC in real-world software projects.
The development of a software measurement method depends not only on standards and rules, but also on practical experience. Different organizations, development approaches, and software types can present different measurement challenges.
Collecting, analysing, and sharing practical experience is therefore essential to the continued development of COSMIC.
As software engineering evolves from traditional development to agile practices and AI-assisted development, the contexts in which COSMIC is applied are also expanding.
Three Key Projects
The annual meeting included progress reports on three important initiatives:
- Artificial intelligence
- Quantum software measurement
- The software estimation game
Artificial Intelligence
AI is increasingly involved in requirements analysis, code generation, testing, and software maintenance. As AI becomes more integrated into software development, it may change development workflows, productivity, and software cost structures.
These changes raise important questions about software size measurement and estimation in AI-assisted development environments. Understanding these challenges is an important research direction for COSMIC.
Quantum Software Measurement
Quantum software differs from conventional software in areas such as development approaches, execution environments, and program characteristics.
As quantum computing advances, measuring the size, effort, and cost of quantum software is emerging as a new area of software engineering research.
The Software Estimation Game
Software estimation involves interconnected concepts, including software size, effort, cost, and productivity. These concepts can be challenging for beginners to understand through theory alone.
The COSMIC educational simulator project explores game-based learning to make software estimation more interactive and accessible. It also provides an opportunity to integrate the COSMIC ISO/IEC 19761 standard and a-posteriori and a-priori estimation models into an educational game environment.
Software Measurement Practices Around the World
The meeting also provided an opportunity for COSMIC members to share measurement practices from their respective countries and regions.
Participating countries and regions included Mexico, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa, and China, among others.
Differences in industry environments, software development practices, and measurement needs make international knowledge sharing particularly valuable. These reports helped members exchange practical experience and understand how COSMIC is applied in different organizational contexts.
Such collaboration can help identify common challenges, share lessons learned, and provide practical feedback for the continued development of the COSMIC method.
Conclusion
The COSMIC 2026 Annual Meeting highlighted ongoing work in measurement practices, professional certification, and the practical application of software functional size measurement.
The initiatives discussed—including AI, quantum software measurement, and game-based software estimation education—illustrate the expanding range of contexts in which software measurement is relevant.
Through its committees, international membership, and ongoing projects, COSMIC continues to connect measurement methods and standards with professional certification, industry experience, and emerging software engineering research.
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