Software Development Performance Research Articles

Software development: Processes and performance

This paper presents data that describe the effects on software development performance due to both the production methods of software development and the social processes of how software developers work together. Data from 40 software development teams at one site that produces commercial software are used to assess the effects of production methods and social processes on both software product quality and team performance. Findings indicate that production methods, such as the use of software methodologies and automated development tools, provide no explanation for the variance in either software product quality or team performance. Social processes, such as the level of informal coordination and communication, the ability to resolve intragroup conflicts, and the degree of supportiveness among the team members, can account for 25 percent of the variations in software product quality. These findings suggest two paradoxes for practice: (1) that teams of software developers are brought together to create variability and production methods are used to reduce variability, and (2) that team-level social processes may be a better predictor of software development team performance than are production methods. These findings also suggest that factors such as other social actions or individual-level differences must account for the large and unexplained variations in team performance.

Supporting search for reusable software objects

Prior research has shown that achieving high levels of software reuse in the presence of repository and object-based computer-aided software engineering (CASE) development methods presents interesting human, managerial and technical challenges. This article presents research that seeks to enhanced software development performance through reuse. We propose automated support for developers who search large repositories for the appropriate reusable software objects. We characterize search for repository objects in terms of a multistage model involving screening, identification, and the subsequent choice between new object construction or reusable object implementation. We propose automated support tools, including ORCA, a software Object Reuse Classification Analyzer, and AMHYRST, an Automated HYpertext-based Reuse Search Tool, that are based on this model. ORCA utilizes a faceted classification approach that can be implemented using hypertext. We also describe an aspect of AMHYRST's architecture which can automatically create hypertext networks that represent and link objects in terms of a number of distinguishing features. We illustrate our approach with an example drawn from a real world object repository.

Improving speed and productivity of software development: a global survey of software developers

Time is an essential measure of performance in software development because time delays tend to fall directly to the bottom line. To address this issue, this research seeks to distinguish time-based software development practices: those managerial actions that result in faster development speed and higher productivity. This study is based upon a survey of software management practices in Western Europe and builds upon an earlier study we carried out in the United States and Japan (Integrated Manufacturing Systems, vol. 7, no. 2, 1996). We measure the extent to which managers in the USA, Japan and Europe differ in their management of software projects and also determine the tools, technology and practices that separate fast and slow developers in Western Europe.

Understanding the factors influencing the performance of software development groups: An exploratory group-level analysis

The increasing complexity and size of software systems makes the performance and productivity of the software development activity a critical issue. Most studies of software development performance to date have focused on individual software developers. However, software development, especially for large-scale software projects, is a group effort in which the characteristics of the group itself play an important role. The paper examines the variation in the performance of software development groups as a function of the characteristics of the group itself. Using data from 31 software development groups, we examined the influence of the group's cohesiveness, total experience in software development and capability on the group's performance level. The influence of cohesiveness and capability was found to be strong and significant while the influence of experience was the weakest. The results from this exploratory research provide interesting insights into the issue of software development performance and offer important implications for development teams working on software projects.

Factors Affecting Software Developers' Performance: An Integrated Approach

Software developers' performance has a direct impact on software development productivity. An understanding of the factors that affect this performance could help determine where to concentrate management efforts (and related financial resources) form a practical standpoint, and where to focus research efforts form an academic perspective. To gain further insight into these factors, this study extends prior research by integrating elements from expectancy theory, goal-setting theory, and organizational behavior specific to the software development process. The research results provide new insights regarding the relative importance of how expectancy theory, goal-setting theory, and individual characteristics affect the perceived performance of software development professionals. These preliminary findings indicate that goal-setting theory may have complex implications for software development performance. Goal difficulty has a negative relationship to performance but a positive relationship to effort. Because of this off-setting effect, the degree of goal difficulty has a relatively small overall effect on performance. Goal clarity also has a relatively small effect on performance. Individual ability has the strongest direct effect on perceived performance, more than twice as strong as the effects o work effort, personality dimensions, and perceived characteristics of the task. High achievement needs were directly related to both effort and perceived performance, whereas self-esteem and locus of control have a direct relationship to perceived performance.

A Quantitative Analysis of U.S. and Japanese Practice and Performance in Software Development

Since the early 1980s, there has been a mounting debate in industry literature and in U.S. government-sponsored reports over the relative performance of software developers in Japan versus those in the United States. This literature is somewhat divided between assertions of Japanese or U.S. superiority in this technology, although many observers in the popular business press continue to insist that the U.S. maintains an overwhelming lead in this technology. However, both sides of the debate have offered evidence that, to date, has been primarily qualitative or based on one or two cases. This paper contributes to the debate in two ways. First, it offers a comprehensive literature review that analyzes existing comparisons of Japanese and U.S. practice in software development and summarizes the major proposed differences in performance. Second, it presents the first set of quantitative data collected from a statistically comparable sample of 24 U.S. and 16 Japanese software-development projects, and uses these data to test propositions from the literature. The analyses indicate that Japanese software projects perform at least as well as their U.S. counterparts in basic measures of productivity, quality (defects), and reuse of software code. The data also make it possible to offer models that explain some of the differences in productivity and quality among projects in both countries.

Fast preprocessing of physical data in a VMEbus based multiprocessor system

Multicoincidence and multiparameter experiments in nuclear physics typically produce 10 Gb of data per measuring run. These raw data are stored on optical disks and subsequently reduced by a VMEbus-based multiprocessor system which compiles large two-dimensional spectra in a 32 Mb of RAM (random access memory). All subprocesses required for preprocessing run simultaneously on firmly assigned microprocessors (MC 68020). The sorting algorithms for spectrum compilation can easily be adapted to different raw data structures and spectrum sizes by means of a set of assembler macros. The authors describe the data recording, system requirements, interprocess communication, sorting process, software development, and system performance.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Development of a prototype, experimental single‐channel sequencing navstar gps receiver: Part II—Software description

AbstractLate in 1988 the Navstar GPS satellite navigation operational phase is planned to commence, offering world‐wide, continuous and precise position‐fixing and timing information to observers on land, sea, air and in space. This paper describes the development of a particular type of Navstar receiver—a single‐channel, single‐frequency, sequencing C/A code unit—and results of various tests carried out on the present phase—II satellite constellation. Part I of this paper deals with the NAVSTAR satellite system and the development of receiver hardware, whereas Part II concentrates on software development and system performance.