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.     

软件过程模型回顾与分析

软件过程模型是软件项目的指导思想和全局性框架,是项目经理进行管理的有效工具.本文回顾了软件过程模型的发展历程,介绍了一些具有代表性的软件过程模型,并通过对这些模型的类比分析,给出了它们的优缺点,最后展望了软件过程模型的发展趋势.     

System dynamics in software project management: towards the development of a formal integrated framework

Successful software development is becoming increasingly important to many companies. However, most projects fail to meet their targets, highlighting the inadequacies of traditional project management techniques in this unique setting. Despite breakthroughs in software engineering, management methodologies have not improved, and the major opportunities for better results are now in this area. Poor strategic management and related human factors have been cited as a major cause for failures, which traditional techniques cannot incorporate explicitly. System dynamics (SD) aims to model the behaviour of complex socio-economic systems; there has been a number of applications to software project management. SD provides an alternative view in which the major project influences are considered and quantified explicitly. Grounded on a holistic perspective it avoids consideration of the detail required by traditional tools, looking at the key aspects of the general project behaviour. However, if SD is to play a key role in software project management it needs to be embedded within the traditional decision-making framework. The authors developed a conceptual integrated model, the SYDPIM, which has been tested and improved within a large on-going software project. Such a framework specifies the roles of SD models, how they are to be used within the traditional management process, how they exchange information with the traditional models, and a general method to support model development.     

Evaluating the reliability of the software of a switching system with a multi-variable model

In recent years reliability growth models have gained a dominant role in the evaluation of the reliability of software products. However, their application to the quality assurance process of the software of a highly complex system such as a telecommunications switching system often shows that it is then possible to get accurate results only when some months of operation have elapsed. It is then impossible to give an answer to the typical questions which arise during the quality assurance phase: ‘Is the software ready for release? How long will it take before it is ready?’. This paper describes a multi-variable (MV) model which was developed to overcome the above limitation by providing a better model of the quality assurance process. A case study is presented, and a comparison is made between the results obtained by applying existing reliability growth models and the MV-model to it. Besides attaining surprising accuracy in its predictions and in measuring the reliability of the product, the MV-model also tries to tackle a different kind of question: ‘How is it possible to improve the effectiveness of testing?’.     

The dynamics of software project staffing: a system dynamics basedsimulation approach

The author focuses on the dynamics of software project staffing throughout the software-development lifecycle. The research vehicle is a comprehensive system-dynamics model of the software-development process. A detailed discussion of the model's structure as well as its behavior is provided. The results of a case study in which the model is used to simulate the staffing practices of an actual software project are then presented. The experiment produces some interesting insights into the policies (both explicit and implicit) for managing the human resource, and their impact on project behavior. The decision-support capability of the model to answer what-if questions is also demonstrated. In particular, the model is used to test the degree of interchangeability of men and months on the particular software project     

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.     

A quantitative model for the support of software management

The software production and maintenance management support project (SPMMS) will define and produce a complete, consistent and efficient information system supporting all management activities in the life cycle of software.Adequate management of the production and maintenance of software can be achieved only with the support of quantitative analysis. This analysis must examine all attributes of the process by which software is developed and maintained. Initial results are available of an investigation into the use of quantitative models within an SPMMS.There are several issues and problems of project management. Existing models for cost and some approaches to the measurement of quality have disadvantages. An experience database helps estimating and planning and control. Criteria for model selection can be given (as a basis for assessing external and internal models). A CQA model is incorporated within SPMMS. This is part of the SPMMS approach to integrated and automatic management support.     

Do the allocation and quality of intellectual assets affect the reputation of open source software projects?

We study the effect exerted by intellectual asset quality, social interaction, and the (re) allocation of intellectual assets on the reputation of open source software projects by analyzing 3196 software games over twelve months. Our main findings are as follows: (1) the aggregate performance of the individuals involved in a project increases the project's reputation, (2) changes in individual commitment affect project reputation, (3) social interaction increases project reputation, (4) reputation is more sensitive to the performance of individuals than to social interaction, and (5) the quality of intellectual assets and the project's social interaction both moderate the negative effect of changes in individual commitment.     

贝叶斯网络技术在软件测试过程中的应用研究

为使软件测试管理者准确定义并把握软件测试过程中存在大量复杂的相互依赖、相互影响的关系,通过对有经验的测试人员在软件测试过程中的主观判断和从以往客观数据抽象出来的关系进行分析,用贝叶斯网络技术对其建模,并对模型中的关系量化,从而可以利用模型辅助测试过程进行管理,包括进行计划、决策和对软件产品的质量进行预测等.     

Time variance and defect prediction in software projects

It is crucial for a software manager to know whether or not one can rely on a bug prediction model. A wrong prediction of the number or the location of future bugs can lead to problems in the achievement of a project’s goals. In this paper we first verify the existence of variability in a bug prediction model’s accuracy over time both visually and statistically. Furthermore, we explore the reasons for such a high variability over time, which includes periods of stability and variability of prediction quality, and formulate a decision procedure for evaluating prediction models before applying them. To exemplify our findings we use data from four open source projects and empirically identify various project features that influence the defect prediction quality. Specifically, we observed that a change in the number of authors editing a file and the number of defects fixed by them influence the prediction quality. Finally, we introduce an approach to estimate the accuracy of prediction models that helps a project manager decide when to rely on a prediction model. Our findings suggest that one should be aware of the periods of stability and variability of prediction quality and should use approaches such as ours to assess their models’ accuracy in advance.     

Optimization models for reliability of modular software systems

The authors present optimization models for software systems that are developed using a modular design technique. Four different software structures are considered: one program, no redundancy; one program, with redundancy; multiple programs, no redundancy; and multiple programs, with redundancy. The optimization problems are solved by using the authors' version of established optimization methods. The practical usefulness of this study is to draw the attention of software practitioners to an existing methodology that may be used to make an optimal selection out of an available pool of modules with known reliability and cost. All four models maximize software reliability while ensuring that expenditures remain within available resources. The software manager is allowed to select the appropriate model for a given situation     

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。     

浅析办公软件应用教学过程中的问题及解决办法

办公软件应用模块中级和高级操作员考试教学培训过程中的问题，有些是软件安装问题，有些是Office2003的环境设置问题。本文围绕全国计算机信息高新技术考试《试题汇编》与《试题解答》教材，重点分析教学培训过程中遇到的问题，提出解决办法。     

Fuzzy Logic Based Group Maturity Rating for Software Performance Prediction

Driven by market requirements,software services organizations have adopted various software engineering process models (such as capability maturity model (CMM),capability maturity model integration (CMMI),ISO 9001:2000,etc.) and practice of the project management concepts defined in the project management body of knowledge.While this has definitely helped organizations to bring some methods into the software development madness,there always exists a demand for comparing various groups within the organization in terms of the practice of these defined process models.Even though there exist many metrics for comparison,considering the variety of projects in terms of technology,life cycle,etc.,finding a single metric that caters to this is a difficult task.This paper proposes a model for arriving at a rating on group maturity within the organization.Considering the linguistic or imprecise and uncertain nature of software measurements,fuzzy logic approach is used for the proposed model.Without the barriers like technology or life cycle difference,the proposed model helps the organization to compare different groups within it with reasonable precision.     

The optimization of success probability for software projects using genetic algorithms

The software development process is usually affected by many risk factors that may cause the loss of control and failure, thus which need to be identified and mitigated by project managers. Software development companies are currently improving their process by adopting internationally accepted practices, with the aim of avoiding risks and demonstrating the quality of their work.This paper aims to develop a method to identify which risk factors are more influential in determining project outcome. This method must also propose a cost effective investment of project resources to improve the probability of project success.To achieve these aims, we use the probability of success relative to cost to calculate the efficiency of the probable project outcome. The definition of efficiency used in this paper was proposed by researchers in the field of education. We then use this efficiency as the fitness function in an optimization technique based on genetic algorithms. This method maximizes the success probability output of a prediction model relative to cost.The optimization method was tested with several software risk prediction models that have been developed based on the literature and using data from a survey which collected information from in-house and outsourced software development projects in the Chilean software industry. These models predict the probability of success of a project based on the activities undertaken by the project manager and development team. The results show that the proposed method is very useful to identify those activities needing greater allocation of resources, and which of these will have a higher impact on the projects success probability.Therefore using the measure of efficiency has allowed a modular approach to identify those activities in software development on which to focus the project's limited resources to improve its probability of success. The genetic algorithm and the measure of efficiency presented in this paper permit model independence, in both prediction of success and cost evaluation.     

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.     

An integrated approach for requirement selection and scheduling in software release planning

It is essential for product software companies to decide which requirements should be included in the next release and to make an appropriate time plan of the development project. Compared to the extensive research done on requirement selection, very little research has been performed on time scheduling. In this paper, we introduce two integer linear programming models that integrate time scheduling into software release planning. Given the resource and precedence constraints, our first model provides a schedule for developing the requirements such that the project duration is minimized. Our second model combines requirement selection and scheduling, so that it not only maximizes revenues but also simultaneously calculates an on-time-delivery project schedule. Since requirement dependencies are essential for scheduling the development process, we present a more detailed analysis of these dependencies. Furthermore, we present two mechanisms that facilitate dynamic adaptation for over-estimation or under-estimation of revenues or processing time, one of which includes the Scrum methodology. Finally, several simulations based on real-life data are performed. The results of these simulations indicate that requirement dependency can significantly influence the requirement selection and the corresponding project plan. Moreover, the model for combined requirement selection and scheduling outperforms the sequential selection and scheduling approach in terms of efficiency and on-time delivery.     

The impact of software evolution and reuse on software quality

This paper presents a case study of a software project in the maintenance phase. The case study was based on a sample of modules, representing about 1.3 million lines of code, from a very large telecommunications system. Software quality models were developed to predict the number of faults expected from the coding through operations phases. Since modules from the prior release were often reused to develop a new release, one model incorporated reuse data as additional independent variables. We compare this model's performance to a similar model without reuse data.Software quality models often have product metrics as the only input data for predicting quality. There is an implicit assumption that all the modules have had a similar development history, so that product attributes are the primary drivers of different quality levels. Reuse of software as components and software evolution do not fit this assumption very well, and consequently, traditional models for such environments may not have adequate accuracy. Focusing on the software maintenance phase, this study demonstrated that reuse data can significantly improve the predictive accuracy of software quality models.     

基于行为的软件测试过程模型及其应用研究

在深入研究各种综合测试技术的基础上,通过对比分析各种主流的测试模型,提出了一种基于行为的软件测试过程模型,包括了测试设计、测试计划、测试执行、测试结果分析和测试重用等活动,把这些测试活动嵌入到软件开发的整个生命周期当中。然后将这种测试模型应用到一个大型的应用程序测试项目(AMP)中,发现这种测试模型在尽早发现Bug和回归测试选择效率上具有较好的测试效果。