This Article 
   
 Share 
   
 Bibliographic References 
   
 Add to: 
 
Digg
Furl
Spurl
Blink
Simpy
Google
Del.icio.us
Y!MyWeb
 
 Search 
   
A Comparison of Software Project Overruns-Flexible versus Sequential Development Models
September 2005 (vol. 31 no. 9)
pp. 754-766
ASCII Text
x 
 
Kjetil Mol?kken-?stvold, Magne J?rgensen, "A Comparison of Software Project Overruns-Flexible versus Sequential Development Models," IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. 31, no. 9, pp. 754-766, September, 2005.
 
 
BibTex
x
 
@article{ 10.1109/TSE.2005.96,
author = {Kjetil Mol?kken-?stvold and Magne J?rgensen},
title = {A Comparison of Software Project Overruns-Flexible versus Sequential Development Models},
journal ={IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering},
volume = {31},
number = {9},
issn = {0098-5589},
year = {2005},
pages = {754-766},
doi = {http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TSE.2005.96},
publisher = {IEEE Computer Society},
address = {Los Alamitos, CA, USA},
}
 
 
RefWorks Procite/RefMan/Endnote
x 
 
TY - JOUR
JO - IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering
TI - A Comparison of Software Project Overruns-Flexible versus Sequential Development Models
IS - 9
SN - 0098-5589
SP754
EP766
EPD - 754-766
A1 - Kjetil Mol?kken-?stvold,
A1 - Magne J?rgensen,
PY - 2005
KW - Index Terms- Cost estimation
KW - management
KW - project control and modeling
KW - software development models.
VL - 31
JA - IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering
ER -
 
Flexible software development models, e.g., evolutionary and incremental models, have become increasingly popular. Advocates claim that among the benefits of using these models is reduced overruns, which is one of the main challenges of software project management. This paper describes an in-depth survey of software development projects. The results support the claim that projects which employ a flexible development model experience less effort overruns than do those which employ a sequential model. The reason for the difference is not obvious. We found, for example, no variation in project size, estimation process, or delivered proportion of planned functionality between projects applying different types of development model. When the managers were asked to provide reasons for software overruns and/or estimation accuracy, the largest difference was that more of flexible projects than sequential projects cited good requirement specifications and good collaboration/communication with clients as contributing to accurate estimates.

[1] E. Yourdon, Death March. Prentice-Hall, 1997.
[2] K. Moløkken-Østvold and M. Jørgensen, “A Review of Surveys on Software Effort Estimation,” Proc. 2003 ACM-IEEE Int'l Symp. Empirical Software Eng. (ISESE 2003), pp. 220-230, 2003.
[3] B. Boehm, Software Estimation with COCOMO II. Prentice-Hall, 2000.
[4] J.E. Matson, B.E. Barrett, and J.M. Mellichamp, “Software Development Cost Estimation Using Function Points,” IEEE Trans. Software Eng., vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 275-287, 1994.
[5] M. Jørgensen, “A Review of Studies on Expert Estimation of Software Development Effort,” J. Systems and Software, vol. 70, nos. 1-2, pp. 37-60, 2004.
[6] H. Woodward, Project Management Institute Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures. Project Management Inst., 2001.
[7] R.C. Tausworthe, “The Work Breakdown Structure in Software Project Management,” J. Systems and Software, vol. 1, pp. 181-186, 1980.
[8] M. Jørgensen and K. Moløkken-Østvold, “A Preliminary Checklist for Software Cost Management,” Proc. Int'l Conf. Quality Software, pp. 134-140, 2003.
[9] M. Shepperd and U. Passing, “An Experiment on Software Project Size and Effort Estimation,” Proc. 2003 ACM-IEEE Int'l Symp. Empirical Software Eng. (ISESE 2003), pp. 120-129, 2003.
[10] S. Engelkamp, S. Hartkopf, and P. Brossler, “Project Experience Database: A Report Based on First Practical Experience,” Proc. Int'l Conf. Product Focused Software Process Improvement, pp. 204-215, 2000.
[11] K. Moløkken-Østvold and M. Jørgensen, “Software Effort Estimation: Unstructured Group Discussion as a Method to Reduce Individual Biases,” Proc. 15th Ann. Workshop Psychology of Programming Interest Group (PPIG 2003), pp. 285-296, 2003.
[12] B. Flyvbjerg, M.S. Holm, and S. Buhl, “Underestimating Costs in Public Works Projects— Error or Lie?” J. Am. Planning Assoc., vol. 68, no. 3, pp. 279-295, 2002.
[13] M. Jørgensen, “Practical Guidelines for Expert-Judgement-Based Software Effort Estimation,” IEEE Software, pp. 57-63, May/June 2005.
[14] E.L. May and B.A. Zimmer, “The Evolutionary Development Model for Software,” Hewlett-Packard J., vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 39-45, 1996.
[15] D.R. Graham, “Incremental Development and Delivery for Large Software Systems,” Software Eng. for Large Software Systems, 1990.
[16] T. Gilb, “Estimating Software Attributes: Some Unconventional Points of View,” ACM Sigsoft Software Eng. Notes, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 49-59, 1986.
[17] H.D. Mills, “Software Development,” IEEE Trans. Software Eng., vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 265-273, 1976.
[18] C. Larman and V.R. Basili, “Iterative and Incremental Development: A Brief History,” Computer, pp. 2-11, June 2003.
[19] K. Moløkken-Østvold et al., “Does Use of Development Model Affect Estimation Accuracy and Bias?” Proc. Fifth Int'l Conf. Product Focused Software Process Improvement PROFES 2004, pp. 17-29, 2004.
[20] M. Iansiti and A. MacCormack, “Developing Products on Internet Time,” Harvard Business Rev., pp. 107-117, Sept. 1997.
[21] A. Cockburn, “In Search of Methodology,” Object Magazine, pp. 52-56, 1994.
[22] A. Cockburn, Surviving Object-Oriented Projects. Addison-Wesley, 1998.
[23] T. Gilb, Principles of Software Engineering Management. Addison-Wesley, 1998.
[24] M. Jørgensen and K. Moløkken-Østvold, “Understanding Reasons for Errors in Software Effort Estimates,” IEEE Trans. Software Eng., vol. 30, no. 12, pp. 993-1007, Dec. 2004.
[25] M. Jørgensen and D.I.K. Sjøberg, “Impact of Effort Estimates on Software Project Work,” Information and Software Technology, vol. 43, pp. 939-948, 2001.
[26] H.D. Mills, “The Management of Software Engineering, Part 1: Principles of Software Engineering,” IBM Systems J., vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 414-420, 1980.
[27] T.D. Hendrix and M.P. Schnenider, “NASA's TReK Project: A Case Study in Using the Spiral Model of Software Development,” Comm. ACM, vol. 45, no. 4, 2002.
[28] W. Royce, “TRW's Ada Process Model for Incremental Development of Large Software Systems,” Proc. 12th Int'l Conf. Software Eng. (ICSE '12), pp. 2-11, 1990.
[29] A.C. Lien and E. Arisholm, “Evolutionary Development of Web-Applications— Lessons Learned,” Proc. European Software Process Improvement Conf. (EuroSPI '2001), 2001.
[30] W. Royce, “Managing the Development of Large Software Systems: Concepts and Techniques,” Proc. IEEE WESTCON Conf., pp. 1-9, 1970.
[31] R. Pressman, Software Engineering, fifth ed. McGraw-Hill, 2000.
[32] T. Gilb, Software Metrics. Little, Brand and Co., 1976.
[33] P. Abrahamson et al., Agile Software Development Methods. Review and Analysis. p. 107, VTT Publication, 2002.
[34] P.C. Cozby, Methods in Behavioral Research, fifth ed. Mountain View, Calif.: Mayfield Publishing, 1993.
[35] HegnarOnline, Kapital DATAs 1500 Største, Nov. 2002, http://www.hegnar.no/externaldefault.asp?nSpace=ns_28 .
[36] S. Grimstad, M. Jørgensen, and K. Moløkken-Østvold, “Software Effort Estimation Terminology: The Tower of Babel,” Information and Software Technology, 2005.
[37] S.D. Conte, H.E. Dunsmore, and V.Y. Shen, Software Engineering Metrics and Models. Menlo Park, Calif.: Benjamin-Cummings, 1986.
[38] L.C. Briand and I. Wieczorek, “Resource Modeling in Software Engineering,” Encyclopedia of Software Eng., J. Marciniak, ed., Wiley, 2001.
[39] T. Foss et al., “A Simulation Study of the Model Evaluation Criterion MMRE,” IEEE Trans. Software Eng., vol. 29, no. 11, pp. 985-995, Nov. 2003.
[40] M. Jørgensen and D. Sjøberg, “An Effort Prediction Interval Approach Based on the Empirical Distribution of Previous Estimation Accuracy,” J. Information and Software Technology, vol. 45, no. 3, pp. 123-136, 2003.
[41] E. Stensrud et al., “An Empirical Validation of the Relationship between the Magnitude of Relative Error and Project Size,” Proc. Eighth IEEE Symp. Software Metrics, pp. 3-12, 2002.
[42] E. Stensrud et al., “A Further Empirical Investigation of the Relationship Between MRE and Project Size,” Empirical Software Eng., vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 139-161, 2003.
[43] B. Kitchenham et al., “What Accuracy Statistics Really Measure,” IEE Proc.— Software Eng., vol. 148, no. 3, pp. 81-85, 2001.
[44] Y. Miyazaki et al., “Method to Estimate Parameter Values in Software Prediction Models,” Information and Software Technology, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 239-243, 1991.
[45] J.S. Edwards and T.T. Moores, “A Conflict between the Use of Estimating and Planning Tools in the Management of Information Systems,” European J. Information Systems, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 139-147, 1994.
[46] R. Christensen, Analysis of Variance, Design and Regression. Applied Statistical Methods. Chapman and Hall/Crc., 1998.
[47] S. Siegel and N.J. Castellan, Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences, second ed. McGraw-Hill College Div., 1988.
[48] J. Cohen, Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. New York: Academic Press, 1969.
[49] P. Sørgaard and M. Vestre, “Country Report from Norway,” OECD-PUMA Expert Meeting on Management of Large IT Projects, 2003, http://www.statskonsult.no/publik/rapporter/ 20032003-01eng.pdf.
[50] L . West-Knights, “Getting IT Right for Government— A Review of Public Sector IT Projects,” 2000, Intellect, http://www.intellectuk. org/publications/ business_guidance_papersGet_IT_Right_for_ Govt.pdf .
[51] K. Moløkken-Østvold, “Management of Public Software Projects: Avoiding Overruns,” Proc. Hawaiian Int'l Conf. Business, pp. 2210-2220, 2005.

Index Terms:
Index Terms- Cost estimation, management, project control and modeling, software development models.
Citation:
Kjetil Mol?kken-?stvold, Magne J?rgensen, "A Comparison of Software Project Overruns-Flexible versus Sequential Development Models," IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. 31, no. 9, pp. 754-766, Sept. 2005, doi:10.1109/TSE.2005.96
Usage of this product signifies your acceptance of the Terms of Use.