Ahilton Barreto

Staffing a software project: A constraint satisfaction and optimization-based approach

Software development is a people intensive activity. The abilities possessed by developers are strongly related to process productivity and final product quality. Thus, one of the most important decisions to be made by a software project manager is how to properly staff the project. However, staffing software projects is not a simple task. There are many alternatives to ponder, several developer-to-activity combinations to evaluate, and the manager may have to choose a team from a larger set of available developers, according to the project and organizational needs. Therefore, to perform the staffing activity with ad hoc procedures can be very difficult and can lead the manager to choose a team that is not the best for a given situation. This work presents an optimization-based approach to support staffing a software project. The staffing problem is modeled and solved as a constraint satisfaction problem. Our approach takes into account the characteristics of the project activities, the available human resources, and constraints established by the software development organization. According to these needs, the project manager selects a utility function to be maximized or minimized by the optimizer. We propose several utility functions, each addressing values that can be sought by the development organization. A decision support tool was implemented and used in an experimental study executed to evaluate the relevance of the proposed approach.

Applying ISO 9001: 2000, MPS.BR and CMMI to Achieve Software Process Maturity: BL Informatica's Pathway

Customer satisfaction, quality improvement and rework reduction are known to be the most important benefits obtained through deployment of software process maturity models and standards within an organization. Since 2003 BL Informatica has been motivated and has established and maintained its software processes based on international standards (like ISO 9001:2000) and maturity models (like MPS.BR and CMMI). In spite of the lack of financial and human resources, the organization achieved satisfactory results. This paper describes BL Infomaticas software processes improvement plan, lessons learned, difficulties and benefits that where collected during the execution of the improvement plan. It also presents quantitative results that demonstrate the return on investment during these years.

Taba workstation: supporting software process deployment based on CMMI and MR-MPS.BR

Deployment of software processes based on reference models is a knowledge-intensive task, i.e., a great amount of technical knowledge must be applied in order to guarantee conformance and adherence of processes deployed to the reference models adopted. Moreover, software process deployers have to deal with organizational and individual cultural problems on a regular basis, for instance, resistances to organizational changes. Therefore, the success of software process deployment within an organization or organizational unit depends on both technical and social aspects of the software process deployment strategy definition and execution. This paper presents the Toba Workstation, an enterprise-oriented Process-centered Software Engineering Environment (PSEE) constituted of an integrated set of tools to support software process deployment based on the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) and the Reference Model for Brazilian Software Process Improvement (MR-MPS.BR). Software process appraisals demonstrated that the Taba Workstation constitutes one of the most important organizational assets to facilitate the success of software process deployment initiatives and to overcome the inherent difficulties.

Staffing a software project: a constraint satisfaction approach

This paper presents an optimization based approach to support staffing a software project. The approach takes into account the characteristics of the project activities, the characteristics of the available human resources, and constraints established by the software development organization in charge of the project. According to these needs, the project manager selects a utility function to be maximized or minimized by the optimizer. We propose several utility functions, each addressing specific values which can be sought by the development organization.

Supporting the Definition of Software Processes at Consulting Organizations via Software Process Lines

Software Process Consulting Organizations (SPCOs) support other organizations to define, deploy, and improve their software processes. Usually they are requested to define similar processes to different organizations, leading to some process reuse opportunities. Software Process Lines (SPLs) are reusable process architectures that model similarities and variabilities among processes, and could be of great value for SPCOs to derive multiple processes based on the same original SPL. This paper presents a reuse-based software process definition approach that aims at making it easier for consulting organizations to define reusable processes. We describe the main concepts related to a SPL, and how to define and use them in this context. We also present a supporting tool to define SPLs and derive defined processes. Finally, we present a usage experience of the approach in the context of a SPCO in Brazil.

Taba workstation: supporting software process improvement initiatives based on software standards and maturity models

International software standards and maturity models play an important role in Software Process Improvement initiatives defining best practices and providing knowledge to the definition of software processes. Nevertheless, the definition and deployment of software processes based on that standards and models is an expensive and knowledge intensive task. This paper describes an approach to the definition and deployment of software processes in small and medium size Brazilian companies supported by a Process-centered Software Engineering Environment named Taba Workstation. It also presents results related to a software process improvement initiative undertaken in a Brazilian organization that demonstrates the feasibility of the presented approach.

Taba workstation: supporting technical solution through knowledge management of design rationale

The development and maintenance of software products are knowledge intensive tasks. Due to the high turnover of software industry, there is a great probability that the original designers are unlikely to be available when problems arise and modifications are needed. Therefore, having the reasons behind the decisions recorded can be invaluable as people leave and join the software team, because the knowledge about choices of those leaving would still be available to the newcomers. This work describes an approach to support the Technical Solution process through knowledge management in the context of a Process-centered Software Engineering Environment (PSEE) named TABA Workstation. It also presents some information related to a software process improvement initiative undertaken in a Brazilian organization that demonstrates the feasibility of the presented approach.