协同开发模式在磁场检测仪开发中的应用

针对磁场检测仪需要众多软硬件开发人员协同开发的问题,引入Redmine项目管理平台进行项目开发的协同管理。采用Proteus实现下位机硬件和嵌入式软件的并行开发,引入嵌入式系统和SVN版本管理器对嵌入式软件各模块进行协同开发。采用Bus Hound实现上位机和下位机软件的并行开发。最终,该协同开发模式的引入使得本项目开发用时比原计划用时减少25%,同时项目质量也有提高。     

The role of project management in ineffective decision making within Agile software development projects

Decision making in traditional software development lies with the project manager. In contrast, Agile software development teams are empowered to make decisions, while the role of project manager has changed from one of command and control (i.e. to make decisions and ensure they are implemented) to one of a facilitator. This article argues that decision making in software development is not characterised by a sequence of isolated or exclusive decisions; rather, decisions are inter-related, with each decision leading to further decisions, the chain of which often spans the entire duration of a project. Over this extended period, there are several potential factors that can negatively affect the efficacy of decision making by Agile teams. One of the findings of this exploratory longitudinal study is that the high level of empowerment of a cohesive software development team undertaking an Agile project may be one of these negative factors, as empowered, cohesive teams can exhibit problems such as groupthink or the Abilene Paradox. This article therefore argues that the role of project manager in Agile development initiatives needs to be reassessed, with project managers taking on the role of devil's advocate in the decision-making process.     

Management competences,not tools and techniques: A grounded examination of software project management at WM-data

Traditional software project management theory often focuses on desk-based development of software and algorithms, much in line with the traditions of the classical project management and software engineering. This can be described as a tools and techniques perspective, which assumes that software project management success is dependent on having the right instruments available, rather than on the individual qualities of the project manager or the cumulative qualities and skills of the software organisation. Surprisingly, little is known about how (or whether) these tools techniques are used in practice. This study, in contrast, uses a qualitative grounded theory approach to develop the basis for an alternative theoretical perspective: that of competence. A competence approach to understanding software project management places the responsibility for success firmly on the shoulders of the people involved, project members, project leaders, managers. The competence approach is developed through an investigation of the experiences of project managers in a medium sized software development company (WM-data) in Denmark. Starting with a simple model relating project conditions, project management competences and desired project outcomes, we collected data through interviews, focus groups and one large plenary meeting with most of the company’s project managers. Data analysis employed content analysis for concept (variable) development and causal mapping to trace relationships between variables. In this way we were able to build up a picture of the competences project managers use in their daily work at WM-data, which we argue is also partly generalisable to theory. The discrepancy between the two perspectives is discussed, particularly in regard to the current orientation of the software engineering field. The study provides many methodological and theoretical starting points for researchers wishing to develop a more detailed competence perspective of software project managers’ work.     

Wearing two hats: analyst-managers for small software projects

With the evolution of software development, companies have changed their project methodology and are asking IT employees to evolve with them. The business analyst talks to users, ironing out the details of what they wanted and balancing that wish list against what an IT system could economically or practically deliver. The business analyst also ensures that users develop business processes to support the software. The actual task of writing the software falls to a project manager and his team of software developers. Today, companies commonly ask IT managers to assume the business analyst role in addition to their duties as project manager, especially in small projects. This article discusses how IT managers can successfully navigate the thin line between business analyst and project manager.     

Implementing a compliance manager

Many companies claim to adhere to standards for software project development. This is often used as a marketing tool when eliciting business. But how does the customer or project manager know that these standards are being completely and consistently applied in their projects? In the paper ‘Managing standards compliance’ [http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/w.emmerich/publications/TSE/stdscompl.html] we identify this problem and describe a support environment to provide identification and correction of non-compliance to standards. This paper details the experiences gained while implementing such a tolerant support system.     

Factors that motivate software engineering teams: A four country empirical study

Motivation, although difficult to quantify, is considered to be the single largest factor in developer productivity; there are also suggestions that low motivation is an important factor in software development project failure. We investigate factors that motivate software engineering teams using survey data collected from software engineering practitioners based in Australia, Chile, USA and Vietnam. We also investigate the relationship between team motivation and project outcome, identifying whether the country in which software engineering practitioners are based affects this relationship. Analysis of 333 questionnaires indicates that failed projects are associated with low team motivation. We found a set of six common team motivational factors that appear to be culturally independent (project manager has good communication with project staff, project risks reassessed, controlled and managed during the project, customer has confidence in the project manager and the development team, the working environment is good, the team works well together, and the software engineer had a pleasant experience). We also found unique groupings of team motivational factors for each of the countries investigated. This indicates that there are cultural differences that project managers need to consider when working in a global environment.     

Staffing a software project: A constraint satisfaction and optimization-based approach

Software development is a people intensive activity. The abilities possessed by developers are strongly related to process productivity and final product quality. Thus, one of the most important decisions to be made by a software project manager is how to properly staff the project. However, staffing software projects is not a simple task. There are many alternatives to ponder, several developer-to-activity combinations to evaluate, and the manager may have to choose a team from a larger set of available developers, according to the project and organizational needs. Therefore, to perform the staffing activity with ad hoc procedures can be very difficult and can lead the manager to choose a team that is not the best for a given situation.     

Software Development Management Planning

The lack of comprehensive planning prior to the initiation of a software development project is a very pervasive failing. This paper walks through a sample software development plan discussing the various areas that a software development manager should address in preparing his project's plan. Various considerations and suggestions are presented for each of the management subject areas. How the user/customer can use the developer's plan to aid in monitoring of his software's evolution is also presented. Detailed planning of a software development project is necessary to the successful completion of the project.     

How to steer an embedded software project: tactics for selecting the software process model

Modern large new product developments (NPD) are typically characterized by many uncertainties and frequent changes. Often the embedded software development projects working on such products face many problems compared to traditional, placid project environments. One of the major project management decisions is then the selection of the project's software process model. An appropriate process model helps coping with the challenges, and prevents many potential project problems. On the other hand, an unsuitable process choice causes additional problems. This paper investigates the software process model selection in the context of large market-driven embedded software product development for new telecommunications equipment. Based on a quasi-formal comparison of publicly known software process models including modern agile methodologies, we propose a process model selection frame, which the project manager can use as a systematic guide for (re)choosing the project's process model. A novel feature of this comparative selection model is that we make the comparison against typical software project problem issues. Some real-life project case examples are examined against this model. The selection matrix expresses how different process models answer to different questions, and indeed there is not a single process model that would answer all the questions. On the contrary, some of the seeds to the project problems are in the process models themselves. However, being conscious of these problems and pitfalls when steering a project enables the project manager to master the situation.     

Software product management – An industry evaluation

Product management is a key success factor for software products as it spans the entire life-cycle and thus ensures both a technical and business perspective. With its many interfaces to various business processes and stakeholders across the life-cycle, it is a primary driver for requirements engineering in its focus on value-orientation and consistency across releases. This article provides an overview on product management in software and IT. It summarizes experiences with introducing, improving and deploying the role of a product manager. In order to get a profound industry overview we performed a field study with interviews and concrete insight across fifteen different organizations world-wide on the role of the product manager and its success factors. As a technical solution we present four success factors identified from the research and show how they address the challenges we identified in practice. The novel part of this research and technical study is the industry survey and evaluation of resulting solution proposals. We found that with increasing institutionalization of a consistent and empowered product management role, the success rate of projects in terms of schedule predictability, quality and project duration improves.     

与PDM集成的产品协同开发的权限管理工具

为产品项目经理开发协同工作环境下的项目人员权限管理工具。由项目经理取代系统管理员对参与项目的人员进行权限管理,以保证文件、数据库以及应用软件的安全使用。权限管理采用基于角色的权限管理机制,以此降低权限管理的负担和代价。运用活动目录技术(ActiveDirectory,AD)将网络资源的权限管理和产品数据管理系统(ProductDataManagement,PDM)自身的用户权限管理功能进行集成,实现一次登录即可访问所有授权的资源,确保产品协同开发工作的顺利进行。     

Project management: filling in the gaps

Software configuration management offers a software project manager the one thing he or she desires most: control. This is what is called a “blocking and tackling” issue: it rarely makes headlines, but without it, a software project be thrown for big losses. The author argues that managers (like football coaches) ignore “blocking and tackling” at their peril     

Case study: factors for early prediction of software development success

Project managers can make more effective and efficient project adjustments if they detect project high-risk elements early. We analyzed 42 software development projects in order to investigate some early risk factors and their effect on software project success. Developers in our organization found the most important factors for project success to be: (1) the presence of a committed sponsor and (2) the level of confidence that the customers and users have in the project manager and development team. However, several other software project factors, which are generally recognized as important, were not considered important by our respondents.     

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.     

软件项目管理的知识语义模型

探讨了构建一个基于软件项目管理的知识语义模型，它是软件项目管理系统的核心，包含过程模型、资源模型和产品模型。使用这个模型去开发一个软件项目管理系统，以帮助管理员去控制软件开发过程。     

降低软件项目风险的方法研究

在分析软件项目风险成因的基础上,对项目管理中的风险分析、风险管理进行了详细的研究,提出了软件项目风险的量化管理和降低软件项目风险性的方法。该方法有助于软件项目管理者更好地理解潜在的主要风险因素,从而进行更好的风险管理。     

软件分布式协同开发环境关键技术的研究

随着网络技术和软件规模的发展,软件分布式开发的需求越来越迫切。SDCEE是一个软件分布式协同开发环境,它使用户通过浏览器参与项目全过程的开发。论述了系统在解决分布式协同开发所使用到的关键技术,这些技术包括目录镜像、网络资源管理器、工作区管理、命令解释器、远程编辑以及权限管理接口。     

Of crazy numbers and release criteria

The author discusses the use of release criteria to decide when a project has a shippable product. He considers his experiences when working as a project manager for a small middleware applications group     

Software project management using PROMPT: A hybrid metrics, modeling and utility framework

In this paper, we present a ‘forward-looking’ decision support framework that integrates up-to-date metrics data with simulation models of the software development process in order to support the software project management control function. This forward-looking approach (called the PROMPT method) provides predictions of project performance and the impact of various management decisions. Tradeoffs among performance measures are accomplished using outcome based control limits (OBCLs) and are augmented using multi-criteria utility functions and financial measures of performance to evaluate various process alternatives. The decision support framework enables the program manager to plan, manage and track current software development activities in the short term and to take corrective action as necessary to bring the project back on track. The model provides insight on potential performance impacts of the proposed corrective actions. A real world example utilizing a software process simulation model is presented.     

Building an organization-specific infrastructure to support CASE tools

CASE tools are notorious for forcing organizations to adapt to a standard development methodology. The underlying assumption is that a universally applicable development method exists and it is up to the organization to conform to that method. But software development is no longer a homogeneous field. As computers are applied to an increasingly diverse set of applications, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the different demands these domains place on the development process. Our solution to this dilemma is to create an organization-wide development infrastructure based on accumulated experiences within application and technical domains. The domain lifecycle formalizes a process for accumulating project experiences and creating domain knowledge than can be used to increase product quality and improve development productivity. Supporting the domain lifecycle eases development of software that has been developed previously in the organization, freeing designers to concentrate on less well-known elements of an application.