Coordination in co-located agile software development projects

Agile software development provides a way to organise the complex task of multi-participant software development while accommodating constant project change. Agile software development is well accepted in the practitioner community but there is little understanding of how such projects achieve effective coordination, which is known to be critical in successful software projects. A theoretical model of coordination in the agile software development context is presented based on empirical data from three cases of co-located agile software development. Many practices in these projects act as coordination mechanisms, which together form a coordination strategy. Coordination strategy in this context has three components: synchronisation, structure, and boundary spanning. Coordination effectiveness has two components: implicit and explicit. The theoretical model of coordination in agile software development projects proposes that an agile coordination strategy increases coordination effectiveness. This model has application for practitioners who want to select appropriate practices from agile methods to ensure they achieve coordination coverage in their project. For the field of information systems development, this theory contributes to knowledge of coordination and coordination effectiveness in the context of agile software development.     

Measuring progress in order-verification within software development projects

This document proposes one answer to the question: how does one measure and communicate progress in code verification? The question is addressed within the scope of verifying the order-of-accuracy of codes that solve partial differential equations. A process is described whereby order-verification exercises may be conducted within software development projects. The process entails domain-definition, test-suite construction, and test-suite demonstration phases. Progress measures are proposed to monitor the latter two phases particularly with regard to how close they are to completion. A fitness measure is introduced which measures the verification-fitness of a code relative to a given application.     

Efficient management of inspections in software development projects

During the last two decades a universal agreement has been established on the fact that software inspections play a fundamental role in improving software quality. The number of software organizations that have incorporated formal reviews in their development process is constantly increasing and the belief that efficient inspections can not only detect defects but also reduce cycle time and lower costs is spreading. However, despite the importance of the inspections in a software development project, scheduling of inspections has not been given the necessary attention so far. As a result, inspections tend to accumulate towards internal project deadlines, possibly leading to excess overtime costs, quality degradation and difficulties in meeting milestones. In this paper, data from a major telecommunications software project is analyzed in an effort to illustrate the problems that can arise from inefficient planning of inspections and their related activities.     

A software development process for small projects

The authors' software development process integrates portions of an iterative, incremental process model with a quality assurance process and a measurement process that is used for process improvement. Their process aims to produce high-quality and timely results with less overhead     

Virtual organizational learning in open source software development projects

We studied virtual organizational learning in open source software (OSS) development projects. Specifically, our research focused on learning effects of OSS projects and the factors that affect the learning process. The number and percentage of resolved bugs and bug resolution time of 118 SourceForge.net OSS projects were used to measure the learning effects. Projects were characterized by project type, number and experience of developers, number of bugs, and bug resolution time. Our results provided evidence of virtual organizational learning in OSS development projects and support for several factors as determinants of performance. Team size was a significant predictor, with mid-sized project teams functioning best. Teams of three to seven developers exhibited the highest efficiency over time and teams of eight to 15 produced the lowest mean time for bug resolution. Increasing the percentage of bugs assigned to specific developers or boosting developer participation in other OSS projects also improved performance. Furthermore, project type introduced variability in project team performance.     

A dependency taxonomy for agile software development projects

Agile software development is designed to achieve collaborative software development. A supporting pillar of collaboration is effective coordination, which is necessary to manage dependencies in projects. Understanding the dependencies arising in agile software development projects can help practitioners choose appropriate coordinative practices from the large number of practices provided by the various agile methods. To achieve this understanding, this article analyses dependencies in three typical cases of co-located agile software development and presents the dependencies as a taxonomy with decision rules for allocating dependencies into categories. Findings show that knowledge, process, and resource dependencies are present, with knowledge dependencies predominant. In addition, there are agile practices with a coordinative function that address multiple dependencies in these agile software development projects. These practices would be a good choice for coordinating a project and supporting collaboration in agile software projects.     

A decision model for managing software development projects

The paper first examines some issues that hinder the effective management of, and decision-making on, quality software development process and products delivery by practitioners. It then generates a decision model for managing software development projects. The model uses four concepts: mappability, accountability, interoperability and controllability in decision-making which is assumed to be based on a set of indicators that link task status of the development process and its quality assessment to the responsible authorities. The quality of the tasks, and hence, of the deliverables is measured using four attributes: completeness, correctness, consistency and compliance. A web-based example implementation is then discussed. We thus show that the model is flexible, extensible and scalable. Implementation challenges and implications are then discussed.     

Seven tips for keeping software development projects healthy

Every software development project goes through unplanned twists and turns. The paper presents guidelines that can help keep things on track.     

Decisions in software development projects management. An exploratory study

Given the importance of software in today's world, the development of software systems is a key activity that requires complex management scenarios. This article explores the implications of hard decisions in the context of software development projects (SDPs). More in deep, it focuses on the emotional consequences of making hard decisions in IT organisations. Complex SDPs involve a great variety of actors. This fact entails morale, feelings and emotions, which play an important role for communication, interaction and, ultimately, decision making. The aim of the article is twofold. First (Study 1), to identify which are the most important hard decisions in SDPS. Second (Study 2), to study the influence of emotions on decision-making processes (Study 2). Findings show the complex emotional consequences and difficulties that managers must face in hard decision-making processes.     

Antecedents and consequences of team memory in software development projects

Team memory is important, yet it is rarely addressed in papers on software development. We investigated the antecedents and consequences of team memory (both declarative and procedural) in software development projects. By examining 67 projects in the IT departments of 38 firms, we found, using PLS that customer orientation and innovation orientation was positively associated with both declarative and procedural memory, social responsibility was positively related to declarative memory, and systematic management control were negatively associated with declarative memory but positively associated with procedural memory. We also found that: declarative memory was positively related to the market success of the software, and procedural memory was positively related to speed-to-market (launching software faster) to the extent that memory was dispersed throughout the project team. Managerial and theoretical implication were further discussed.     

Antecedents and consequences of team potency in software development projects

Developing new software quickly, successfully, and at low cost is critical in organizations. Ways of assessing the effectiveness of development teams has highlighted measures of factors, such as teamwork, group cohesiveness, and team integration, but the use of group potency theory (the collective belief of a group that it can be effective) is rare. In our study, we investigated antecedents of and consequences to group potency in software development project teams. By examining 53 software development project teams collected from small and medium-sized software firms in Turkey, we found, that team potency positively affected speed-to-market, development cost, and market success of the product. We also found that trust among project team members, past experiences of the members, and team empowerment had a positive impact on the team potency during the project. Managerial and theoretical implications are discussed.     

A change management model and its application in software development projects

Change is inevitable in software projects and software engineers strive to find ways to manage changes. A complete task could be easily in a team`s agenda sometime later due to change demands. Change demands are caused by failures and/or improvements and require additional effort which in most cases have not been planned upfront and affect project progress significantly. Earned Value Management (EVM) is a powerful performance management and feedback tool for project management. EVM depicts the project progress in terms of scope, cost, and schedule and provides future predictions based on trends and patterns of the past. Even though EVM works quite well and widely used in disciplines like construction and mining, it is not the case for software discipline. Software projects require special attention and adoption for change. In this study, we present a model to measure change and subsequent rework and evolution costs to monitor software projects accurately. We have performed five case studies in five different companies to explore the usability of the proposed model. This paper depicts the proposed model and discusses the results of the case studies.     

Risk factors in software development projects: a systematic literature review

Software Quality Journal - Risks are an inherent part of any software project. The presence of risks in environments of software development projects requires the perception so that the associated...     

Factors affecting duration and effort estimation errors in software development projects

The purpose of this research was to fill a gap in the literature pertaining to the influence of project uncertainty and managerial factors on duration and effort estimation errors. Four dimensions were considered: project uncertainty, use of estimation development processes, use of estimation management processes, and the estimator’s experience. Correlation analysis and linear regression models were used to test the model and the hypotheses on the relations between the four dimensions and estimation errors, using a sample of 43 internal software development projects executed during the year 2002 in the IT division of a large government organization in Israel. Our findings indicate that, in general, a high level of uncertainty is associated with higher effort estimation errors while increased use of estimation development processes and estimation management processes, as well as greater estimator experience, are correlated with lower duration estimation errors. From a practical perspective, the specific findings of this study can be used as guidelines for better duration and effort estimation. Accounting for project uncertainty while managing expectations regarding estimate accuracy; investing more in detailed planning and selecting estimators based on the number of projects they have managed rather than their cumulative experience in project management, may reduce estimation errors.     

Preserving knowledge in software projects

Up-to-date preservation of project knowledge like developer communication and design documents is essential for the successful evolution of software systems. Ideally, all knowledge should be preserved, but since projects only have limited resources, and software systems continuously grow in scope and complexity, one needs to prioritize the subsystems and development periods for which knowledge preservation is more urgent. For example, core subsystems on which the majority of other subsystems build are obviously prime candidates for preservation, yet if these subsystems change continuously, picking a development period to start knowledge preservation and to maintain knowledge for over time become very hard. This paper exploits the time dependence between code changes to automatically determine for which subsystems and development periods of a software project knowledge preservation would be most valuable. A case study on two large open source projects (PostgreSQL and FreeBSD) shows that the most valuable subsystems to preserve knowledge for are large core subsystems. However, the majority of these subsystems (1) are continuously foundational, i.e., ideally for each development period knowledge should be preserved, and (2) experience substantial changes, i.e., preserving knowledge requires substantial effort.     

Managing uncertainty in software projects

Although it is impossible to predict problems that will occur in software projects, project managers can employ strategies that imbue their projects with greater resilience. Throughout a software project, a series of practices can be established to manage uncertainties. This paper proposes an approach to managing uncertainty in software projects. The approach seems to improve project performance and success. This work is based on the principles of evidence-based software engineering. We conduct an exploratory literature search and a systematic literature review. In addition, we carry out action research in a software development project. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to evaluate and improve this approach. Finally, we held a focus group to evaluate the final proposed approach. The exploratory review helped to characterise the difference between risk and uncertainty. The systematic literature review revealed five methods and 18 practices for reducing uncertainties. The action research applied some of these techniques and investigated whether they contributed to a better uncertainty management. In the semi-structured interviews, practical points of view were added to the approach. This work defines an approach to uncertainty management and describes strategies that allow team members to explicitly formalise and manage uncertainty in software projects.     

The influence of selection bias on effort overruns in software development projects

ContextA potentially important, but neglected, reason for effort overruns in software projects is related to selection bias. Selection bias–induced effort overruns occur when proposals are more likely to be accepted and lead to actual projects when based on effort estimates that are too low rather than on realistic estimates or estimates that are too high. The effect of this bias may be particularly important in bidding rounds, but is potentially relevant in all situations where there is effort or cost-based selection between alternatives.ObjectiveTo better understand the relevance and management of selection bias effects in software development contexts.MethodFirst, we present a statistical model illustrating the relation between selection bias in bidding and other contexts and effort overruns. Then, we examine this relation in an experiment with software professionals who estimated and completed a set of development tasks and examine relevant field study evidence. Finally, we use a selection bias scenario to assess awareness of the effect of selection bias among software providers.ResultsThe results from the statistical model and the experiment demonstrated that selection bias is capable of explaining much of the effort overruns. The field evidence was also consistent with a substantial effect of selection bias on effort overruns, although there are alternative explanations for the findings. We found a low awareness of selection bias among the software providers.ConclusionSelection bias is likely to be an important source of effort overruns and should be addressed to reduce problems related to over-optimistic effort estimates.