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Software development performance in remote student teams in international computer science collaboration
Approximately two-thirds of software projects are late because project teams encounter challenges that threaten their success. In addition, many projects are developed using remote collaboration, due to pressure of time, distribution of expertise, and organisational constraints. In parallel, technology has developed that allows effective remote collaboration.The purpose of this research was to investigate what characterises high performance in software development in remote student teams. The data was drawn from the Runestone Project, which involved Swedish and American computer science students in international collaboration on a substantial software development project. Runestone gave students the opportunity to use different technologies for collaboration across time and distance, as well the chance to develop problem-solving experience with different cultures in a team-based environment.This research tracked the progress and changes in the entire electronic communication for 8 student teams identified as the 4 highest- and lowest- 4 performers in the 2000 presentation of Runestone. A set of categories was developed to characterise over 31,000 lines of communication, focusing on the amount and nature of communication for each team, and on decision-making patterns throughout the software development process. The research also looked at students' use of available communication technology.Results indicate that both communication and the process and timing of specific actions are crucial to a team's success. Teams communicated differently, with high performing groups communicating less. High performing teams were more organised in the way they conducted their meetings and work. The management of the software development process as a whole was crucial, as was leadership style. An effective use of the software development process can also mean that key decisions are made during the times in the software process where they will be most effective. This research has implications for remote collaboration in both education and industry
Shall we play a game?
In response to real and perceived short-comings in the quality and productivity of software engineering practices and projects, professionally-endorsed graduate and post-graduate curriculum guides have been developed to meet evolving technical developments and industry demands. Each of these curriculum guidelines identifies better software engineering management skills and soft, peopleware skills as critical for all graduating students, but they provide little guidance on how to achieve this. One possible way is to use a serious game — a game designed to educate players about some of the dynamic complexities of the field in a safe and inexpensive environment. This thesis presents the results of a qualitative research project that used a simple game of a software project to see if and how games could contribute to better software project management education; and if they could, then what features and attributes made them most efficacious. That is, shall we— should we— play games in software engineering management? The primary research tool for this project was a game called Simsoft. Physically, Simsoft comes in two pieces. There is an A0-sized printed game board around which the players gather to discuss the current state of their project and to consider their next move. The board shows the flow of the game while plastic counters are used to represent the staff of the project. Poker chips represent the team’s budget, with which they can purchase more staff, and from which certain game events may draw or reimburse amounts depending on decisions made during the course of the game. There is also a simple Java-based dashboard, through which the players can see the current and historical state of the project in a series of reports and messages; and they can adjust the project’s settings. The engine behind Simsoft is a system dynamics model which embodies the fundamental causal relationships of simple software development projects. In Simsoft game sessions, teams of students, and practicing project managers and software engineers managed a hypothetical software development project with the aim of completing the project on time and within budget (with poker chips left over). Based on the starting scenario of the game, information provided during the game, and their own real-world experience, the players made decisions about how to proceed— whether to hire more staff or reduce the number, what hours should be worked, and so on. After each decision set had been entered, the game was run for another next time period, (a week, a month, or a quarter). The game was now in a new state which the players had to interpret from the game board and decide how to proceed. The findings showed that games can contribute to better software engineering management education and help bridge the pedagogical gaps in current curriculum guidelines. However, they can’t do this by themselves and for best effect they should be used in conjunction with other pedagogical tools. The findings also showed that simple games and games in which the players are able to relate the game world to an external context are the most efficacious
The dynamics of software development project management: An integrative systems dynamic perspective
Rather than continuing to focus on software development projects per se, the system dynamics modeling approach outlined is extended to investigate a broader set of issues pertaining to the software development organization. Rather than trace the life cycle(s) of one or more software projects, the focus is on the operations of a software development department as a continuous stream of software products are developed, placed into operation, and maintained. A number of research questions are ""ripe'' for investigating including: (1) the efficacy of different organizational structures in different software development environments, (2) personnel turnover, (3) impact of management approaches such as management by objectives, and (4) the organizational/environmental determinants of productivity
The dynamics of software development project management : an integrative system dynamics perspective
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1984.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND DEWEY.Bibliography: leaves 459-496.by Tarek K. Abdel-Hamid.Ph.D