Publications of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory: 1990 and 1991

JPL Bibliography 39-32 describes and indexes by primary author the externally distributed technical reporting, released during calendar years 1990 and 1991, that resulted from scientific and engineering work performed or managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Three classes of publications are included: (1) JPL publications (90- and 91-series) in which the information is complete for a specific accomplishment; (2) articles from the quarterly Telecommunications and Data Acquisition (TDA) Progress Report (42-series); and (3) articles published in the open literature

Improving project management planning and control in service operations environment.

Projects have evidently become the core activity in most companies and organisations where they are investing significant amount of resources in different types of projects as building new services, process improvement, etc. This research has focused on service sector in attempt to improve project management planning and control activities. The research is concerned with improving the planning and control of software development projects. Existing software development models are analysed and their best practices identified and these have been used to build the proposed model in this research. The research extended the existing planning and control approaches by considering uncertainty in customer requirements, resource flexibility and risks level variability. In considering these issues, the research has adopted lean principles for planning and control software development projects. A novel approach introduced within this research through the integration of simulation modelling techniques with Taguchi analysis to investigate ‗what if‘ project scenarios. Such scenarios reflect the different combinations of the factors affecting project completion time and deliverables. In addition, the research has adopted the concept of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) to develop an automated Operations Project Management Deployment (OPMD) model. The model acts as an iterative manner uses ‗what if‘ scenario performance outputs to identify constraints that may affect the completion of a certain task or phase. Any changes made during the project phases will then automatically update the performance metrics for each software development phases. In addition, optimisation routines have been developed that can be used to provide management response and to react to the different levels of uncertainty. Therefore, this research has looked at providing a comprehensive and visual overview of important project tasks i.e. progress, scheduled work, different resources, deliverables and completion that will make it easier for project members to communicate with each other to reach consensus on goals, status and required changes. Risk is important aspect that has been included in the model as well to avoid failure. The research emphasised on customer involvement, top management involvement as well as team members to be among the operational factors that escalate variability levels 3 and effect project completion time and deliverables. Therefore, commitment from everyone can improve chances of success. Although the role of different project management techniques to implement projects successfully has been widely established in areas such as the planning and control of time, cost and quality; still, the distinction between the project and project management is less than precise and a little was done in investigating different levels of uncertainty and risk levels that may occur during different project phase.United Arab Emirates Governmen

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

A influência de fatores na produtividade do desenvolvimento de software de acordo com um modelo de estruturas teóricas

This work presents an evidence-based model describing the effects of a set of factors on software development productivity, obtained through an evidence synthesis method in Software Engineering. Thus, the relationships among this set and the software development productivity (observed phenomena) are described as results of combining theoretical structures capable of expressing and dealing with differences between different effects and uncertainties varying according to the types of studies found in the literature. Besides, to evaluate the model found, its findings are confronted with a survey capturing the practitioners’ perception (managers and leaders of software projects in Brazilian organizations). The degree of agreement between research (the model) and practice (the practitioners’ perception) shows that scientific knowledge does not differ considerably from the reality experienced by software projects when both of them refer to the influence of factors on software development productivity. The impression that research and practice on the theme go through different paths persists. According to this work, the reasons for this impression are more related to the use of non-standardized and, perhaps, inappropriate measures used to perceive and monitor the influence of factors as well as to measure the software development productivityEste trabalho apresenta um modelo baseado em evidências que descreve efeitos de alguns fatores na produtividade do desenvolvimento de software, obtidos através de um método de síntese de evidências em Engenharia de Software. Deste modo, as relações entre um conjunto de fatores e a produtividade do desenvolvimento de software (fenômenos observados) são descritas como resultados da combinação de estruturas teóricas capazes de expressar e tratar diferenças entre efeitos e incertezas variadas de acordo com os tipos de estudos primários encontrados na literatura. Além disso, para avaliar o modelo encontrado, seus achados são confrontados com uma pesquisa de opinião realizada para capturar a percepção de profissionais da prática (gestores e líderes de projetos de software em organizações brasileiras). O grau de concordância entre a pesquisa (o modelo) e a prática (a percepção dos profissionais) demonstra que, aparentemente, o conhecimento científico não diverge consideravelmente da realidade vivenciada pelos projetos de software no Brasil, quando ambos se referem à influência de fatores na produtividade do desenvolvimento de software. Persiste a impressão, entretanto, de que a pesquisa e a prática no tema percorrem caminhos distintos. De acordo com este trabalho, a impressão do distanciamento parece estar relacionadas à questão do uso de medidas não-padronizadas e, talvez, inapropriadas para mensurar os fatores e a produtividade do desenvolvimento de softwar

Software-Engineering Process Simulation Model (SEPS)

This article describes tlie Software-Engineering Process Simulation (SEPS) model developed at JPL. SEPS is a dynamic simulation model of the software project-development process. It uses the feedback principles of system dynamics to simulate the dynamic interactions among various software life-cycle development activities and management decision-making processes. The model is designed to be a planning tool to examine trade-offs of cost, schedule, and functionality, and to test the implications of different managerial policies on a project's outcome. Furthermore, SEPS will enable software managers to gain a better understanding of the dynamics of software project development and perform postmortem assessments

Capturando a dinâmica da gestão da terceirização de tecnologia da informação para apoio a decisões: um estudo de caso em organizações públicas.

Risk Management A Tecnologia da Informação (TI) pode contribuir significativamente e ser usada como ferramenta para impulsionar o desenvolvimento das pessoas e das organizações. Para favorecer a eficácia deste ambiente, é conveniente que a área de TI defina e disponibilize um portfólio de serviços alinhado aos objetivos organizacionais. Implantar e manter tal portfólio envolve a mobilização de recursos e capacidades e é importante definir uma estratégia de provimento (sourcing) que seja compensadora em termos de resultados para os negócios. Quando uma organização não possui os recursos e as capacidades de TI próprios, em quantidade e/ou qualidade suficiente para o provimento de todos os serviços de TI integrantes do seu portfólio, ela pode buscar organizações externas capazes de suprir esta carência. Tal prática é conhecida como terceirização de TI, ou Information Technology Outsourcing – ITO. No contexto das organizações públicas brasileiras, é observado um alto grau de terceirização de TI, sem a devida análise dos benefícios e dos riscos envolvidos ou sem o alinhamento desta iniciativa com os objetivos organizacionais. Este trabalho faz a suposição de que uma das causas de tal problema é a deficiência no entendimento, por parte dos tomadores de decisão, da complexa rede de interações não lineares, sujeitas a feedbacks e atrasos de diversas magnitudes, existente entre a gestão de capacidades próprias de TI, de sourcing e de benefícios. No intuito de preencher esta lacuna no conhecimento organizacional, o objetivo desta pesquisa foi o de analisar a dinâmica complexa do emprego de capacidades essenciais de TI e da interação destas com as capacidades de fornecedores durante a execução de contratos de terceirização, com o propósito de subsidiar decisões que favoreçam o alcance dos resultados pretendidos pela adoção de ITO. Para isto, um modelo de simulação baseado na dinâmica de sistemas, batizado de ITO-CapSim, foi desenvolvido e validado através de estudos de casos em duas organizações públicas da esfera estadual em Alagoas. No processo de validação, o modelo foi utilizado para analisar diferentes políticas de sourcing e riscos inerentes à adoção de ITO, envolvendo as capacidades essenciais de TI Monitoramento de Contratos e Entrega de Serviços de Desenvolvimento de Sistemas. A eficácia do ITO-CapSim foi avaliada pelos gestores das organizações pesquisadas através de questionários e entrevistas. Após análise quantitativa e qualitativa das respostas obtidas, os resultados sinalizaram que o uso do ITO-CapSim como ferramenta de aprendizado organizacional aperfeiçoou o entendimento dos decisores sobre a complexidade inerente à gestão estratégica de sourcing de capacidades essenciais de TI, gerando insights que podem resultar em um processo mais bem sucedido de ITO.Information Technology (IT) can contribute significantly and be used as a tool to boost the development of people and organizations. To promote the effectiveness of this environment, it is appropriate that the IT department define and deploy a portfolio of IT services aligned with organizational objectives. Implement and maintain such a portfolio involves the application of resources and capabilities, implying in operational costs. It is essential define a most profitable sourcing strategy in terms of business results. When an organization lacks the internal IT capabilities, in terms of quantity and quality, required for the provision of all of its IT services portfolio, it must look for external organizations able to fill the gap. This practice is known as Information Technology Outsourcing - ITO. In the context of Brazilian public organizations, a high degree of IT outsourcing is observed without proper analysis of the benefits and risks involved or without aligning this initiative with organizational goals. On this research, it is assumed that among the causes for this problem is the poor understanding, on the part of decision makers, of the complex network of nonlinear interactions existing between IT capabilities management, sourcing management and benefits management activities, subject to feedbacks and delays of several magnitudes. In order to fill this gap in organizational knowledge, this research aims to analyze the complex dynamics existing on employing core IT capabilities and on the interaction of these capabilities with the suppliers' ones during ongoing outsourcing contracts, to support decisions that promote the achievement of expected ITO results. With this purpose, a system dynamics simulation model, called ITO-CapSim, was developed and validated through case studies in two public organizations in Alagoas state. Along validation process, the model was used to analyze different sourcing policies and risks inherent in the adoption of ITO, involving two core IT capabilities: ITO Contracts Monitoring and Systems Development Service Delivery. The effectiveness of ITO-CapSim was evaluated by IT managers from public organizations through questionnaires and interviews. After quantitative and qualitative analysis of the responses, the results indicated that the use of ITO-CapSim as organizational learning tool has improved the understanding of decision-makers on the complexity of strategic sourcing management IT core capabilities, generating insights that can result in a more successful ITO process