Dan Houston

Impact of process simulation on software practice: an initial report

Process simulation has become a powerful technology in support of software project management and process improvement over the past decades. This research, inspired by the Impact Project, intends to investigate the technology transfer of software process simulation to the use in industrial settings, and further identify the best practices to release its full potential in software practice. We collected the reported applications of process simulation in software industry, and identified its wide adoption in the organizations delivering various software intensive systems. This paper, as an initial report of the research, briefs a historical perspective of the impact upon practice based on the documented evidence, and also elaborates the research-practice transition by examining one detailed case study. It is shown that research has a significant impact on practice in this area. The analysis of impact trace also reveals that the success of software process simulation in practice highly relies on the association with other software process techniques or practices and the close collaboration between researchers and practitioners.

Dynamic COQUALMO: Defect Profiling over Development Cycles

Various techniques have been used for managing software quality, including those that predict defect counts over time. This paper introduces a simulation model based on COQUALMO, which can be calibrated to organizational process performance for estimating counts of residual defects. This simulator has the additional benefit of producing a set of estimated defectivity profiles over a software development cycle. Such a set of profiles can be used to support quality management decisions regarding the amount and level of defect removal activities to be applied during a development cycle.

Agility beyond software development

Agile software development grew out of a variety of alternative software development methods that shared a common set of values and principles. After two decades, agile software development remains loosely defined, but has been widely accepted. This acceptance has gained the attention of other fields with discussions of applying agile to their work, for example agile systems engineering and agile program management. However, agile was defined in terms of software development, both in practice and in principle. Therefore, translation into other fields has been challenging. This paper derives a set of agile characteristics and discusses two benefits of accepting such a set of characteristics for (a) application of agile to other fields beyond software development and (b) for measurement of agility.

A generalized duration forecasting model of test‐and‐fix cycles

Rework is integral to product development. The dynamism, circularity and concurrency properties of rework cycles inhibit attempts to estimate the duration and resources required of development phases. This difficulty is especially evident in testing of software-intensive systems. Dynamic modeling of test-and-fix cycles has addressed this problem and provided good forecasting of test phase durations, but has also produced good results in supporting resource allocation and process improvement decisions. A different model was produced for each of six projects. Though models of test-and-fix processes can be very detailed, a basic model of common elements has been identified through an analysis of commonality and variation in the six project models. The analysis has been used to specify a generalized test-and-fix model.

Research and practice reciprocity in software process simulation

The young field of software process simulation was born out of research that stimulated the imagination of many researchers who created a vision for addressing “the software problem.” Though the vision has yet to be realized widely, the need for the field is growing and benefits are being seen slowly. Opportunity for continued growth of this field lies in the reciprocity between research and industrial practice. An agenda for advancing software process simulation through this reciprocity is offered.

Elements of a generalized duration forecasting model of test-and-fix cycles

Rework is integral to product development. The dynamism, circularity and concurrency properties of rework cycles inhibit attempts to estimate the duration and resources required of development phases. This difficulty is especially evident in testing of software-intensive systems. Dynamic modeling of test-and-fix cycles has addressed this problem and provided good forecasting of test phase durations, but has also produced good results in supporting resource allocation and process improvement decisions. A different model was produced for each of six projects. Though models of test-and-fix processes can be very detailed, a basic model of common elements has been identified through an analysis of commonality and variation in the six project models. The analysis has been used to specify a generalized test-and-fix model.

Modeling user story completion of an agile software process

Although some researchers have studied agile techniques of software development using simulation, simulation studies of actual agile projects are difficult to find. This report on an industrial case study seeks to address this need by presenting an experience of modeling and analyzing an agile software development process using discrete event simulation. The study, undertaken for software process improvement, produced analyses that provided project management with process capability information. First, a sensitivity analysis used a designed experiment to measure the dominant factors in user story productivity. Second, a response surface provided information on the process tolerance for defect rework. Finally, a scenario comparison supported a management decision on sprint usage.

Using TRIZ to balance software process commonality and diversity

A normal tension exists between a corporate need for process commonality and local needs for process customization. Unifying diverse software processes to produce process commonality is challenging. A group seeking to create a common development process must consider issues such as a rationale for process commonality, how to design a process for balancing commonality and customization, how to analyze existing diverse processes, and whether and how to measure process commonality. Altschuller’s Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) is explored for resolving the contradiction between process commonality and diversity and examples from the literature are cited.

Understanding the dynamics of software projects: an introduction to software process simulation (Abstract Only)

Static representations of development processes provide a basis for communication and coordination of work, as well as for planning work. However, they do not provide any information about the actual behavior of a project, including the effects of staffing decisions, quality-inducing activities, delays, resource contentions, and so forth. Software process simulation (SPS) has demonstrated the capability for providing insight to the dynamics of software projects and supporting project management decisions. This tutorial is a SPS introduction that emphasizes practical approaches to modeling and simulation for both researchers and practitioners. We will discuss modeling and simulation, types of simulation, an historical overview of SPS, the disciplines that contribute to successful SPS work, modeling constructs commonly used to represent software development dynamics, and methods for conducting a SPS project.

Software process simulation - at a crossroads?

Software process simulation (SPS) has been evolving over the past two decades after being introduced to the software engineering community in the 1980s. At that time the SPS technology attracted a great deal of interest from both academics and practitioners in the software process community—even to the extent of being one of the recommended techniques for achieving multiple Key Process Areas of Level 4 of the Capability Maturity Model Integration. However, in recent years, the growth of SPS seems to have slowed along with the number of reported applications in industry. This article summarizes the special panel that was held during ICSSP 2012 whose goals were to assess whether this technology remains applicable to todays software engineering projects and challenges and to point out the most beneficial opportunities for future research and industry application. Copyright