Software Project Performance Research Articles

METRIC BASED SOFTWARE PROJECT PERFORMANCE MONITORING MODEL

Successful implementation of software projects development is entirely depending upon successful monitoring and control mechanism. Software metrics can deliver the necessary information for monitoring and control the software projects development for its enhancement. However, the current software metrics does not widely address the performance criteria and related metrics for software project management. Largely, metrics are identified in the perspectives of software development only. Hence, the aim of this study is to formulate a Metric based Software Project Performance Monitoring Model which consists of performance criteria and metrics that involves in a software projects development. This model formulation is consists of five processes: metrics integration, metrics validation, metrics description, metrics categorization and metrics threshold. The proposed model is a novel approach and adds significant of knowledge to the software engineering domain especially on software project monitoring and software measurement domain. Generally, this model will be a guideline for software project managers to monitor and control software projects particularly in public sector software projects. In order to demonstrate the applicability of this model, case study was conducted at various departments at Malaysian Public Sector. The results show that the proposed model is very useful for the project managers in monitoring and control software projects.

Influence of Project Partnering on Stakeholder Role Ambiguity and Project Manager Risk Perception in Information System Projects

Project partnering is an efficient management intervention for enhancing software project performance. Empirical studies have shown that project partnering can effectively reduce role ambiguity during project development; however, these studies focused only on user-related problems. We conducted a matched triplet questionnaire survey of 102 software project managers, users, and developers to examine how project partnering enhances project performance via the risk perception and role ambiguity of certain key stakeholders. Results demonstrate that project partnering affects managers’ risk perception and certain key stakeholders’ role ambiguity, which in turn influences project performance. The findings provide new insight into the impact of risk perception and role ambiguity on project management.

Managing knowledge sharing in distributed innovation from the perspective of developers: empirical study of open source software projects in China

ABSTRACTKnowledge sharing is the key factor that influences the performance of open source software (OSS) projects, which are the representative cases of distributed innovation. This paper aims to explore the mechanism of knowledge sharing in OSS projects from the perspective of developers in China. A quantitative method with the analysis of 403 valid questionnaires is adopted. A series of hypotheses about how distributed innovation (independent variables) influences knowledge sharing (mediating variable) and then affects the performance of OSS projects (dependent variable) are tested and approved. On the one side, we argue that developers will actively affect knowledge sharing in terms of participative motivation, social network and organisational culture. On the other hand, users may also affect the knowledge sharing when considering innovation willingness and capacity. It is interesting to find that social network is the most important factor in Chinese cases. It is strongly recommended to strengthen the collaboration between software companies and OSS communities.

Efficiency Measurement of Project Management Software Usage at State Social Insurance Agency

One of the activities for improvement of project management (PM) quality is to introduce or change PM software to a more suitable one for an appropriate project and team. After implementation of the new PM software, it is useful to understand real improvement and effectiveness of the PM software usage. The objective of the present research is to identify characteristics and methods for effectiveness measurement of the PM software usage and demonstrate its application for the case study to measure project team efficiency after the PM software implementation and assess impact of the PM software usage on the project performance. Mann-Whitney test and Spearman correlation coefficient have been used to analyse relevance between the PM software usage characteristics and project performance indicators with the purpose to determine the PM software usage impact on the project performance and PM quality. The case study has been performed at the State Social Insurance Agency. In order to increase PM quality, Redmine (free of charge PM software) has been implemented.

Software Process Diversity: Conceptualization, Measurement, and Analysis of Impact on Project Performance

We investigate software process diversity, defined as the project condition arising out of the simultaneous use of multiple software development process frameworks within a single project. We conceptualize software process diversity as the response of a project team to such contingencies as requirements volatility, design and technological novelty, customer involvement, and the level of organizational process compliance enforced on the project. Moreover, we conceptualize that the degree of fit (or match) between a project’s software process diversity and the level of process compliance enforced on the project impacts overall project performance. We empirically tested this conceptualization by utilizing data collected from 410 large commercial software projects of a multinational firm. Results show that higher levels of requirements volatility, design and technological novelty, and customer involvement increased software process diversity within a project. However, software process diversity decreased relative to increases in the level of process compliance enforced on the project. A higher degree of fit between a project’s process diversity and process compliance, rather than the effects of those variables independently, was found to be significantly associated with a higher level of project performance, as measured in terms of project productivity and software quality. These results indicate that increasing software process diversity in response to project-level contingencies improves project performance only when there is a concomitant increase in organizational process compliance efforts. We discuss the implications of these results for research and derive prescriptive guidelines to manage the fit between process diversity and process compliance for improving software project performance.

Impacts of collaborative IS on software development project success in Indian software firms: a service perspective

The collaborative work of team members has become a common occurrence in software development projects. Collaborative information systems (CIS), designed to facilitate and support teamwork, appear critical for software project success. However, the quality and convenience of the services and functions delivered by CIS have not received robust attention in academia. Hence, the current study investigates the role of the CIS service characteristics of service quality and service convenience in teamwork and software development project success using DeLone and McLean's (D&M) Information System (IS) Success Model as the theoretical framework. This study incorporates the success indicators of teamwork quality, teamwork performance, and project success as measured by software quality and project performance. Data from 153 Indian software companies confirm that collaborative IS services, as well as teamwork quality/performance, are central to software development project success. We believe that the findings of this study will be helpful to project managers of software development firms.

Software Process Diversity: Conceptualization, Measurement, and Analysis of Impact on Project Performance

This article investigates software process diversity, defined as the project condition arising out of the simultaneous use of multiple software development process frameworks within a single project. Software process diversity is conceptualized as the response of a project team to such contingencies as requirements volatility, design and technological novelty, customer involvement, and the level of organizational process compliance enforced on the project. Moreover, we conceptualize that the degree of fit (or match) between a project's software process diversity and the level of process compliance enforced on the project impacts overall project performance. This conceptualization was empirically tested by utilizing data collected from 410 large commercial software projects of a multinational firm. The results show that higher levels of requirements volatility, design and technological novelty, and customer involvement increased software process diversity within a project. However, software process diversity decreased relative to increases in the level of process compliance enforced on the project. A higher degree of fit between the process diversity and process compliance of a project, rather than the effects of those variables independently, was found to be significantly associated with a higher level of project performance, as measured in terms of project productivity and software quality. These results indicate that increasing software process diversity in response to project-level contingencies improves project performance only when there is a concomitant increase in organizational process compliance efforts. The implications of these results for research are discussed and prescriptive guidelines derived to manage the fit between process diversity and process compliance for improving software project performance.

Modeling Metrics for Monitoring Software Project Performance Based On the GQM Model

Modeling Metrics for Monitoring Software Project Performance Based On the GQM Model

Software project management: Theory of constraints, risk management, and performance evaluation

Constraints and risks are two critical factors that affect software project performance; more attention needs to be paid to constraints and risks in order to improve performance. In this paper, investigation will take place to determine the relation between those three factors. An enhanced model has been proposed to describe how these factors affect each other. As an application, the performance is examined for both open and closed source software projects in terms of some constraints and risk factors. Moreover, solutions for controlling both constraints and risks are provided. For constraints, project activities scheduling is enhanced using a genetic algorithm. For risks, RISKIT is briefly explained as a risk management methodology.

Governing Software Process Improvementsin Globally Distributed Product Development

Continuous software process improvement (SPI) practices have been extensively prescribed to improve performance of software projects. However, SPI implementation mechanisms have received little scholarly attention, especially in the context of distributed software product development. We took an action research approach to study the SPI journey of a large multinational enterprise that adopted a distributed product development strategy. We describe the interventions and action research cycles enacted over a period of five years in collaboration with the firm, which resulted in a custom SPI framework that catered to both the social and technical needs of the firm's distributed teams. Institutionalizing the process maturity framework got stalled initially because the SPI initiatives were perceived by product line managers as a mechanism for exercising wider controls by the firm's top management. The implementation mechanism was subsequently altered to co-opt product line managers, which contributed to a wider adoption of the SPI framework. Insights that emerge from our analysis of the firm's SPI journey pertain to the integration of the technical and social views of software development, preserving process diversity through the use of a multi-tiered, non-blueprint approach to SPI, the linkage between key process areas and project control modes, and the role of SPI in aiding organizational learning.

The impact of Software Process Maturity on Software Project Performance: The Contingent Role of Software Development Risk

Despite growing efforts to improve software development processes, recurring concerns about software project performance remain largely present. The rate of software development project failure rate has been routinely documented in information systems (IS) research (Wallace, 2004; El-Masry and Rivard, 2010). The management of software development projects is often marked by inadequate planning, a poor grasp of the overall development process, and no clear management framework, even as the focus in software development shifts from a technology perspective to a more process-centric view (Slaughter, 2006). To address such concerns few CMM-based studies have examined the benefits and direct impact of software process maturity on software project performance but with mixed results. The present paper attempts to systematically examine the contingent role of software development risk on the impact of software process maturity level on software project performance. Guided by risk-based perspective in Software Engineering and CMM-based framework, an exploratory model was developed and tested. The premise of this paper is that software development risk plays a contingent role in the relationship between software process maturity and software project performance. Drawing on a sample of 107 organizations that have undergone official CMM appraisals, the results of partial least squares analysis of the data reveal initial evidence that (1) a positive effect of software process maturity level on software project performance while underscoring the negative effect of software development risk on software project performance, and (2) more importantly, the findings show that software development risk plays a contingent role software process maturity level on software project performance. For researchers, the integration of software development risk can provide a much needed linkage in the three fundamental constructs of CMM. From a managerial perspective, in order to foster a better software project performance, IS project leaders and managers should strongly emphasize devising effective software development risk assessment since a variation of this construct’s level may strengthen or weaken the relationship between software development process maturity and software project performance.

The impact of Software Process Maturity on Software Project Performance: The Contingent Role of Software Development Risk

Malgré les efforts croissants déployés pour améliorer les processus de développement des systèmes d’information (SI), la performance des projets d’informatisation demeure un sujet d’actualité dans l’industrie. Le taux d’échec de ces projets a été systématiquement documenté dans la littérature SI. (Wallace, 2004; El-Masry et Rivard, 2010). La gestion des projets de développement des SI est souvent caractérisée par une planification inadéquate, une mauvaise maîtrise du processus de développement global et un cadre de gestion imprécis (Slaughter, 2006). Le présent papier tente d’examiner le rôle modérateur du risque de développement SI sur l’impact du niveau de maturité du processus de développement SI sur la performance du projet. Un modèle basé sur le cadre CMM a été développé et testé. Des résultats révélateurs ont été observés à l’appui d’une enquête empirique effectuée auprès de 107 organisations ainsi que des résultats de l’analyse partielle des moindres carrés des données : (1) un effet positif du niveau de maturité du processus de développement SI sur la performance du projet tout en soulignant l’effet négatif du risque de développement SI sur la performance du projet et (2) le rôle contingent du risque de développement SI dans cette relation.Pour les chercheurs SI, l’intégration du construit risque de développement SI souligne le rôle clé de ce construit dans la conceptualisation CMM. D’un point de vue managérial, pour obtenir une meilleure performance des projets SI, les chefs et gestionnaires de ces projets devraient mettre en œuvre une conception plus efficace d’évaluation des risques de développement SI puisqu’une variation du niveau de ce construit peut renforcer ou affaiblir la relation entre la maturité du processus de développement SI et la performance du projet.

A Distinctive Suite of Performance Metrics for Software Design

Software metrics proposed in various theories and literature have considerable variation among them. The sole purpose of all these theories is to improve the quality of software projects by producing and using quantitative measures. All these theories improve the quality of a software project and mend all the issues relating to software refactoring. As the software industry moves to a more mature state, the need for employing more effective tools, techniques and benchmarks for managing software projects has become significantly critical to minimize the negative risk factors as well as ensuring augmented adherence to quality assurance. In this study, we intend to explore how distinctive metrics with respect to different knowledge areas, especially in design engineering, could be useful to manage knowledgeably the software projects. The focus of this research study is to evaluate and highlight the importance of various performance metrics and measures to track the software project performance followed by some already proposed metrics for software design, development and management.

Validating differential relationships between risk categories and project performance as perceived by managers

Effectively controlling software risk helps ensure project performance. Although the relationship between risk and software project performance has been continuously examined, project managers who have attempted to apply existing knowledge to mitigate risky areas remain confused. This study presents two distinct risk prioritization strategies to assist practitioners in developing risk mitigation plans when considering the performance aspects that a particular project should pursue. On the basis of data from 139 software projects, this study shows that each aspect related to project performance is influenced by at least two types of software project risks: objective risks and resilience risks. In particular, objective risks negatively influence all aspects of project performance. Finally, the study shows that using either a risk-focused prioritization strategy or a performance-actualized prioritization strategy provides a gradual management foundation for controlling risks without worrying about excess or deficient risk management investments.

Risks Response Strategies for Supporting Practitioners Decision-Making in Software Projects

Enterprises make great efforts to adopt up-to-the-minute technologies and completely new systems. Despite these efforts, software projects outcomes are not successful. Indeed, poor risk management of software projects often leads to failure, which can impact the project outcomes. For this reason, practitioners should follow a risks strategy that drives their software project toward success. To address this need, this paper presents a risks checklist of software projects. This gathers together the risks affecting the performance of software projects. Moreover, the authors use the importance-performance approach to assess the risks factors identified. The findings allowed us to define the most suitable strategy for managing each risk in more effective way.

SW 공학수준과 SW 프로젝트 납기성과와의 관계

Recently, many software companies are trying to improve the software quality and project outcome with more costs and efforts in development time. In the software convergence and integration environments, it is required efforts to gain high quality of software. In other words, it is required to utilize software engineering knowledge and technology for higher software quality and better software project productivity. The Software development productivity can be varied by software process capability according to building a framework for software development, selection and use of appropriate technology, human resource management. Software process capability will influence software project outcome which is the general opinion. This study provides empirical evidence about software engineering efforts and investment approach to lead software project performance. We measured the software engineering efforts by SW engineering level and analyzed the corelation between software engineering level and schedule deviation. And, we verified that this performance is affected by the size of software company. As a result, software process capability is important to build a infrastructure and develop systematically software project. The higher software engineering level can lead to improved software project performance.

A Software Project Management Method Based on Trust and Knowledge Sharing

Trust is the most important issue to create relationship making value in knowledge sharing. Knowledge itself cannot lead to a success, as knowledge sharing or flow of knowledge is of prime importance in an organization. Knowledge sharing depends on trust between trusted and trustee members in specific knowledge context and specific time slot. Trust level between members has a high impact on software project performance. The future work could include defining a role and measurement of trust and knowledge sharing in the software project performance.

Establishment of Performance Evaluation Indicators System and its Weighting Coefficient Determination Method

It’s important to improve the success rate and profit margins that establish a reasonable performance evaluation and weighting coefficient, and the implementation of performance evaluation. In connection with characteristic of software project performance evaluation system features, use balanced score card and analytic hierarchy process studying. First, establishment of performance evaluation indicators system, include indicators system principles of the elaboration, give the basic framework of the balanced score card, on financial indicators, customer indicators, internal business indicators, analysis of learning and growth indicators, base on the quality of software projects, through the table list the evaluation index system; second, study identifies indicators of performance evaluation method of weight, include the structure matrix, single-level sorting and consistency check, the level and consistency check of the total order of three basic steps, each step of calculation is given by mathematical formula. The results show that the methods used in scientific application, for software project management and performance assessment indicators researchers, is an important reference.

Relationships among interpersonal conflict, requirements uncertainty, and software project performance

Interpersonal conflict and user requirements uncertainty are pervasive phenomena that plague information systems projects. Relevant literature indicates that interpersonal conflicts can negatively affect information system (IS) projects, even after controlling for the effects of conflict management and resolution. However, the negative emotional characteristics of conflict alone have limited explanatory power with regard to IS project success. The purpose of this study is to provide additional insights into this phenomenon by examining the impact on IS project performance made by the interaction between interpersonal conflict and requirement uncertainty (which comprises both diversity and instability). The authors surveyed the top 1600 companies in Taiwan and the results revealed that requirements instability would lead to potential interpersonal conflict and interpersonal conflict was directly associated with requirements diversity which, in turn, was negatively associated with final project performance.

User participation in software development projects

Introduction It is commonly acknowledged that success in IT projects is difficult to achieve. A recent industry survey observed that only 34% of IT projects were considered successful. Of the several potential factors contributing to this hard-to-achieve success, user involvement was noted as the most important one. Consistent with this notion, both researchers and practitioners have viewed user participation as an important way of improving software quality and increasing user satisfaction and acceptance. Users/customers are often encouraged to participate and directly communicate with developers in the software development process. On the other hand, empirical evidence shows that user participation in the development process can negatively influence project performance since it could make the process more difficult, lengthy, and less effective. Such contradictory findings raise the question of when user participation is actually helpful and when it might negatively impact project performance. Previous research tells only one side of the story since it has examined user participation or project performance by focusing primarily on user viewpoints. The findings give an incomplete picture since they have not thoroughly addressed developer viewpoints. Clearly, there is a need to investigate software project success from the perspective of developers given that not only are they at the core of development process but they also represent the largest single cost in software development. Developer satisfaction is imperative for systems development success. Dissatisfied developers would adversely affect the quality of software as well as the productivity of development teams. A high rate of developer turnover in projects (due to dissatisfaction) could lead to increasing costs for development firms as well as high user/customer dissatisfaction. Due to the differences in background and circumstance, developers and users often share different and sometimes conflicting interests during software development. Researchers have identified a large gap in perceptions and definitions of project success between developers and the software industry (for example, users/customers). For example, developers tend to be achievement-oriented and are intrinsically motivated to develop excellent software, while users/ customers emphasis more on meeting a schedule or maintaining a budget. Thus, the potential conflicting interests between users and developers might negatively affect the software development performance. This article addresses the question of the relative effectiveness of user participation by empirically examining the perceived software project performance (for example, satisfaction) from both user and developer perspectives simultaneously. We used survey data from 117 software development projects and 746 respondents at a large Fortune 100 manufacturing firm during a four-year time period to investigate the impact of user participation on the satisfaction of both developers and users. Our findings offer insights into the impact of user participation on generating higher levels of developer and user satisfaction and, at the same time, minimizing the perception gap between users and developers on project performance. In addition, we also study the role of software complexity (for example, whether projects involve new software development as opposed to maintenance of existing software) in user participation and its effect on satisfaction. Questionnaire data was collected from 453 software developers and 293 users/customers working on 117 software projects (for details of the data collection process, see the sidebar "How the Survey was Conducted"). The average number of developer survey respondents per project (for example, team) was four and the average number of user/customer respondents per project was three. Our analysis was performed at project level, and satisfaction scores for developers and users were averaged for each project. Of the 117 software development projects, 45 (39% of our sample) were maintenance projects and 72 (61%) were new development projects. The average software development time of the 117 software projects was 126 days. Figure 1 outlines the project characteristics in our sample. The most common business domain for our software projects was the manufacturing and supply chain (41 projects, 35%) and most of the projects were Web-based applications (78 projects, 66%).