Recommender Systems for Software Project Managers

Despite Software project management (SPM) being one of the most relevant topicsin the area of software engineering that should be addressed in computing programs, SPM skills of recent graduates are not satisfactory yet. In this context, besides being important to know there are skill deficiencies, we also need to gather specific information on how to adjust and improve the education on the corresponding topics. In this paper we attempt to identify what knowledge deficiencies in SPM can persist after a student graduates from a computing degree program. We surveyed practitioners that graduated and worked as software project managers to gather the knowledge deficiencies from the industry perspective. In general, the results indicated that there is a number of professionals who seeks postgraduate programs to fill the deficiencies of the undergrad programs.

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Fuzzy Rules for Risk Assessment and Contingency Estimation within COCOMO Software Project Planning Model

Exploring Innovative and Successful Applications of Soft Computing - Advances in Computational Intelligence and Robotics ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-4785-5.ch006 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 88-111 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ekananta Manalif ◽

Luiz Fernando Capretz ◽

Danny Ho

Keyword(s):

Risk Assessment ◽

Risk Management ◽

Project Planning ◽

Project Managers ◽

Research Data ◽

Software Project ◽

Planning Model ◽

Effort Estimation ◽

New Approach ◽

Project Risks

Software development can be considered to be the most uncertain project when compared to other projects due to uncertainty in the customer requirements, the complexity of the process, and the intangible nature of the product. In order to increase the chance of success in managing a software project, the project manager(s) must invest more time and effort in the project planning phase, which involves such primary and integrated activities as effort estimation and risk management, because the accuracy of the effort estimation is highly dependent on the size and number of project risks in a particular software project. However, as is common practice, these two activities are often disconnected from each other and project managers have come to consider such steps to be unreliable due to their lack of accuracy. This chapter introduces the Fuzzy-ExCOM Model, which is used for software project planning and is based on fuzzy technique. It has the capability to not only integrate the effort estimation and risk assessment activities but also to provide information about the estimated effort, the project risks, and the effort contingency allowance necessary to accommodate the identified risk. A validation of this model using the project’s research data shows that this new approach is capable of improving the existing COCOMO estimation performance.

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The Influence of Personality Traits on Software Engineering and its Applications

Agile Estimation Techniques and Innovative Approaches to Software Process Improvement - Advances in Systems Analysis, Software Engineering, and High Performance Computing ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-5182-1.ch006 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 83-95 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Adrián Casado-Rivas ◽

Manuel Muñoz Archidona

Keyword(s):

Software Engineering ◽

Personality Traits ◽

High Performance ◽

Project Managers ◽

Big Five Personality ◽

Software Project ◽

Myers Briggs Type Indicator ◽

Team Members ◽

Engineering Teams ◽

Software Engineers

In Software Engineering, personality traits have helped to better understand the human factor. In this chapter, the authors give an overview of important personality traits theories that have influenced Software Engineering and have been widely adopted. The theories considered are Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Big Five Personality Traits, and Belbin Roles. The influence of personality traits has provided remarkable benefits to Software Engineering, especially in the making of teams. For software project managers, it is useful to know what set of soft skills correlates to a specific team role so as to analyze how personality traits have contributed to high performance and cohesive software engineering teams. The study of software engineers’ personality traits also helps to motivate team members. Creating teams that involve compatible individuals, each working on tasks that suit them, and having a motivated team improves team performance, productivity, and reduces project costs.

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Towards Knowledge Evolution in Software Engineering

Systems Approach Applications for Developments in Information Technology ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-1562-5.ch002 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 8-24

Author(s):

Yves Wautelet ◽

Christophe Schinckus ◽

Manuel Kolp

Keyword(s):

Software Engineering ◽

Life Cycles ◽

Project Managers ◽

Software Project ◽

Modeling Languages ◽

Software Projects ◽

Theoretical Frameworks ◽

Knowledge Evolution ◽

Iterative Development ◽

Early Implementation

This article presents an epistemological reading of knowledge evolution in software engineering (SE) both within a software project and into SE theoretical frameworks principally modeling languages and software development life cycles (SDLC). The article envisages SE as an artificial science and notably points to the use of iterative development as a more adequate framework for the enterprise applications. Iterative development has become popular in SE since it allows a more efficient knowledge acquisition process especially in user intensive applications by continuous organizational modeling and requirements acquisition, early implementation and testing, modularity,… SE is by nature a human activity: analysts, designers, developers and other project managers confront their visions of the software system they are building with users’ requirements. The study of software projects’ actors and stakeholders using Simon’s bounded rationality points to the use of an iterative development life cycle. The later, indeed, allows to better apprehend their rationality. Popper’s knowledge growth principle could at first seem suited for the analysis of the knowledge evolution in the SE field. However, this epistemology is better adapted to purely hard sciences as physics than to SE which also takes roots in human activities and by the way in social sciences. Consequently, we will nuance the vision using Lakatosian epistemology notably using his falsification principle criticism on SE as an evolving science. Finally the authors will point to adaptive rationality for a lecture of SE theorists and researchers’ rationality.

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Software Project Managers under the Team Software Process

Project Management Techniques and Innovations in Information Technology ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-0930-3.ch007 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 115-126

Author(s):

Marcos Ruano-Mayoral ◽

Ricardo Colomo-Palacios ◽

Ángel García-Crespo ◽

Juan Miguel Gómez-Berbís

Keyword(s):

Software Development ◽

Software Process ◽

Development Project ◽

Project Managers ◽

Project Manager ◽

Software Project ◽

Software Projects ◽

Software Development Project ◽

Team Software Process ◽

Definition Of

Despite the clear relevance of the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) market in world economics and the evident lack of success of software projects, organizations devote little effort to the development and maturity of the software project manager profession. This work analyzes the figure of project manager from the perspective of the Team Software Process (TSP), and it considers the required skills, attitudes and knowledge for a software development project. The basis for the study is the analysis of relevant references from the literature for their subsequent categorization into different competency concepts. The results of the analysis are compared with the contributions which the Guide to the SWEBOK® and the PMBOK® Guide models provide of the profiles of the project manager. The results indicate that the literature relating to the Team Software Process is focused on the definitions of skills and attitudes, and to a lesser extent on knowledge components. The lack of the definition of the components which comprise competency constitutes a challenge for software development organizations that use TSP, whose project managers should confront the task with full capacities, and without the help of established and recognized competencies. The current work attempts to establish the competencies for project managers identified in the literature, in the environment of the use of TSP for software development, using a study based on content analysis.

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Fuzzy Rules for Risk Assessment and Contingency Estimation Within COCOMO Software Project Planning Model

Global Business Expansion ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-5481-3.ch035 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 771-797

Author(s):

Ekananta Manalif ◽

Luiz Fernando Capretz ◽

Danny Ho

Keyword(s):

Risk Assessment ◽

Risk Management ◽

Project Planning ◽

Project Managers ◽

Research Data ◽

Software Project ◽

Planning Model ◽

Effort Estimation ◽

New Approach ◽

Project Risks

Software development can be considered to be the most uncertain project when compared to other projects due to uncertainty in the customer requirements, the complexity of the process, and the intangible nature of the product. In order to increase the chance of success in managing a software project, the project manager(s) must invest more time and effort in the project planning phase, which involves such primary and integrated activities as effort estimation and risk management, because the accuracy of the effort estimation is highly dependent on the size and number of project risks in a particular software project. However, as is common practice, these two activities are often disconnected from each other and project managers have come to consider such steps to be unreliable due to their lack of accuracy. This chapter introduces the Fuzzy-ExCOM Model, which is used for software project planning and is based on fuzzy technique. It has the capability to not only integrate the effort estimation and risk assessment activities but also to provide information about the estimated effort, the project risks, and the effort contingency allowance necessary to accommodate the identified risk. A validation of this model using the project's research data shows that this new approach is capable of improving the existing COCOMO estimation performance.

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MMT

10.4018/978-1-6684-3702-5.ch054 ◽

2022 ◽

pp. 1077-1089

Author(s):

Pekka Mäkiaho ◽

Katriina Vartiainen ◽

Timo Poranen

Keyword(s):

Design Science ◽

Science Research ◽

Project Managers ◽

Project Work ◽

Software Project ◽

Upper Management ◽

Monitoring Software ◽

Further Development ◽

Is Design

This paper presents the Metrics Monitoring Tool (MMT) that was developed in university graduate and undergraduate courses on software project work in 2014-2016. The tool aims to support project members, project managers and upper management in reporting and monitoring software and project metrics for their easier and more effective utilization. The paper covers the development process of the tool, evaluation assessment, its current composition and features. The paradigm applied in this study is Design Science Research and the methods for evaluation include prototype, expert evaluation, case study and technical experiment. Data was collected from the tool users by two questionnaires. As a result, MMT was evaluated to ease the metrics handling, while several aspects related to the richness of functionalities and usability still require further development.

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Towards Knowledge Evolution in Software Engineering

International Journal of Information Technologies and Systems Approach ◽

10.4018/jitsa.2010100202 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 21-40

Author(s):

Yves Wautelet ◽

Christophe Schinckus ◽

Manuel Kolp

Keyword(s):

Software Engineering ◽

Life Cycles ◽

Project Managers ◽

Software Project ◽

Modeling Languages ◽

Software Projects ◽

Theoretical Frameworks ◽

Knowledge Evolution ◽

Iterative Development ◽

Early Implementation

This article presents an epistemological reading of knowledge evolution in software engineering (SE) both within a software project and into SE theoretical frameworks principally modeling languages and software development life cycles (SDLC). The article envisages SE as an artificial science and notably points to the use of iterative development as a more adequate framework for the enterprise applications. Iterative development has become popular in SE since it allows a more efficient knowledge acquisition process especially in user intensive applications by continuous organizational modeling and requirements acquisition, early implementation and testing, modularity,… SE is by nature a human activity: analysts, designers, developers and other project managers confront their visions of the software system they are building with users’ requirements. The study of software projects’ actors and stakeholders using Simon’s bounded rationality points to the use of an iterative development life cycle. The later, indeed, allows to better apprehend their rationality. Popper’s knowledge growth principle could at first seem suited for the analysis of the knowledge evolution in the SE field. However, this epistemology is better adapted to purely hard sciences as physics than to SE which also takes roots in human activities and by the way in social sciences. Consequently, we will nuance the vision using Lakatosian epistemology notably using his falsification principle criticism on SE as an evolving science. Finally the authors will point to adaptive rationality for a lecture of SE theorists and researchers’ rationality.

Download Full-text