Verbal Decision Analysis Applied to the Prioritization of Influencing Factors in Distributed Software Development

2017 ◽  
pp. 49-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marum Simão Filho ◽  
Plácido Rogério Pinheiro ◽  
Adriano Bessa Albuquerque
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Decision Analysis ◽  
Influencing Factors ◽  
Distributed Software Development ◽  
Distributed Software ◽  
Verbal Decision Analysis

scholarly journals A Multicriteria Approach to Support Task Allocation in Projects of Distributed Software Development

Complexity ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Marum Simão Filho ◽  
Plácido R. Pinheiro ◽  
Adriano B. Albuquerque ◽  
Régis P. S. Simão ◽  
Raimundo S. N. Azevedo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Decision Analysis ◽  
Task Allocation ◽  
Task Assignment ◽  
Task Type ◽  
Distributed Software Development ◽  
Distributed Software ◽  
Allocation Process ◽  
Verbal Decision Analysis ◽  
Automated Tools

Organizations are increasingly investing in Distributed Software Development (DSD) over the years. A typical decision-making problem in the distributed scenario consists of deciding which team should be allocated each task. That decision takes into account a relative degree of subjectivity. That setting is suitable for applying Verbal Decision Analysis (VDA). This paper introduces an approach to support the allocation of tasks to distributed units in DSD projects, structured on the hybridisation of methods of Verbal Decision Analysis for classification and rank ordering applied to influencing factors and executing units. Firstly, a review of the literature was conducted aiming to identify the approaches to support the allocation of tasks in DSD contexts. Then, an approach was developed by applying VDA-based methods for classification and ordering. Bibliographic research and the application of surveys with professionals allowed identifying and characterising the main elements that influence task assignment in DSD projects. Afterwards, experiences were carried out in five real-world companies. In the end, the proposed approach has been submitted to the evaluation by the professionals of the participating companies and by some project management experts. The proposed approach comprises a workflow containing responsible actors and descriptions of the activities. Automated tools are also employed in automating the implementation of the approach. After applying the approach in five companies, task assignment recommendations are presented in groups for each company, according to the task type, i.e., requirements, architecture, coding, and testing, ranging from the most to the least preferable office. Results of the experiences and evaluations held during this work present evidence that the proposed approach is flexible, adaptable, and easy to understand and to use. Moreover, it helps to reduce decision subjectivity and to think of new aspects, supporting the task allocation process in DSD.

scholarly journals Selection and Prioritization of Software Requirements Applying Verbal Decision Analysis

Complexity ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Paulo A. M. Barbosa ◽  
Plácido R. Pinheiro ◽  
Francisca R. V. Silveira ◽  
Marum Simão Filho
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Decision Analysis ◽  
Decision Maker ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Software Requirements ◽  
Software Development Process ◽  
Next Release Problem ◽  
Support Tools ◽  
Verbal Decision Analysis ◽  
The Cost

During the software development process, the decision maker (DM) must master many variables inherent in this process. Software releases represent the order in which a set of requirements is implemented and delivered to the customer. Structuring and enumerating a set of releases with prioritized requirements represents a challenging task because the requirements contain their characteristics, such as technical precedence, the cost required for implementation, the importance that one or more customers add to the requirement, among other factors. To facilitate this work of selection and prioritization of releases, the decision maker may adopt some support tools. One field of study already known to solve this type of problem is the Search-Based Software Engineering (SBSE) that uses metaheuristics as a means to find reasonable solutions taking into account a set of well-defined objectives and constraints. In this paper, we seek to increase the possibilities of solving the Next Release Problem using the methods available in Verbal Decision Analysis (VDA). We generate a problem and submit it so that the VDA and SBSE methods try to resolve it. To validate this research, we compared the results obtained through VDA and compared with the SBSE results. We present and discuss the results in the respective sections.

Bridging, Patching and Keeping the Work Flowing: Defect Resolution in Distributed Software Development

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 477-507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Avram ◽  
Liam Bannon ◽  
John Bowers ◽  
Anne Sheehan ◽  
Daniel K. Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Distributed Software Development ◽  
Distributed Software
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