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1 – 10 of over 68000Joseph D. Blackburn and Gary D. Scudder
Software projects are commonly late and over budget, causing the product to be late to market. Based on questionnaires and field research with software managers in Europe, the USA…
Abstract
Software projects are commonly late and over budget, causing the product to be late to market. Based on questionnaires and field research with software managers in Europe, the USA and Japan, seeks to isolate the management practices that accelerate software development. The results suggest that global differences are not pronounced: Japanese software factories have development processes structured similarly to their US and European counterparts; productivity is also roughly equivalent. To reduce development time, software managers currently achieve greater leverage from the management of people and the cross‐functional process than with the use of CASE tools and technology.
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Irina Farquhar and Alan Sorkin
This study proposes targeted modernization of the Department of Defense (DoD's) Joint Forces Ammunition Logistics information system by implementing the optimized innovative…
Abstract
This study proposes targeted modernization of the Department of Defense (DoD's) Joint Forces Ammunition Logistics information system by implementing the optimized innovative information technology open architecture design and integrating Radio Frequency Identification Device data technologies and real-time optimization and control mechanisms as the critical technology components of the solution. The innovative information technology, which pursues the focused logistics, will be deployed in 36 months at the estimated cost of $568 million in constant dollars. We estimate that the Systems, Applications, Products (SAP)-based enterprise integration solution that the Army currently pursues will cost another $1.5 billion through the year 2014; however, it is unlikely to deliver the intended technical capabilities.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the most progressive commodity among current information system applications. In-house development and sales of beneficial products are difficult…
Abstract
Purpose
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the most progressive commodity among current information system applications. In-house development and sales of beneficial products are difficult for many software development and service companies (SDSCs). SDSCs have some implicit concerns about implementing AI software development due to the complexity of AI technology; they require an evaluation framework to avoid development failure. To fill the void, this study identified the factors influencing SDSCs when developing AI software development.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on complex adaptive systems theory, three aspects were developed as the main factors of hierarchy, namely, employees' capabilities, environmental resources and team capabilities. Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) was used to assess the SDSCs' attitude. Based on SDSCs, attitudes toward implementing AI software projects were collected to calculate the hierarchy of factors.
Findings
The outcome of FAHP is used as understanding the key factors of SDSCs for selecting an AI software project, toward the improvement of overall project planning. Employees' stress resistance was considered as a priority for the project, although professional AI skills and resources were also important.
Originality/value
This study suggested three variables developed using complex adaptive systems. This study contributes to a better understanding of the critical aspects of developing AI software projects in SDSCs. The study's findings have practical and academic implications for SDSCs and subsequent academic development, broadening the scope of AI software development research.
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This study aims to develop a model for coordination and communication overhead in distributed software development through case study analysis in the Indian outsourcing software…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to develop a model for coordination and communication overhead in distributed software development through case study analysis in the Indian outsourcing software industry. The model is based on business knowledge, which can be classified as domain, regulatory, strategic, business process and operation process knowledge as per existing literature.
Design/methodology/approach
Double case study method was used to verify an existing knowledge–management framework of software development from the literature. The stakeholders of both the cases were interviewed, and project documents were verified to reach conclusions.
Findings
The findings supported the business knowledge classification from the literature. The concept can be used to analyze the software project in a distributed environment.
Research limitations/implications
The research work findings are based only on two case studies. The study findings cannot be generalized and should be used as a learning tool. There can be large variations of project characteristics with differences in business knowledge requirements. The research shows the importance of business knowledge transfer in global software development.
Practical implications
Projects managers in the distributed software development environment can use the findings in project planning and work allocation for better control over cost and schedule, etc.
Originality/value
There is little research works attempted to study the business knowledge classification in the global software industry making the research novel.
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Debasisha Mishra and Biswajit Mahanty
The purpose of the paper is to find out the knowledge requirements and its effect on both onsite and offshore project work division for development, re-engineering and maintenance…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to find out the knowledge requirements and its effect on both onsite and offshore project work division for development, re-engineering and maintenance projects in Indian outsourcing software industry in different phases of software development.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs an expert interview approach in Indian software industry to find out knowledge requirement for project execution and division of work between onsite and offshore locations. The requisite data were collected through expert interviews and direct observations.
Findings
The study found that the development projects require higher level of domain, strategic, business process and operation process knowledge in comparison to re-engineering and maintenance projects. So there is a need of higher onsite presence in development projects. The maintenance work is taken up at the offshore location in a phase-wise manner.
Research limitations/implications
The implication of the study is in the development of a broad framework of knowledge requirements and work division in on-shore and offshore locations for Indian software outsourcing projects. As the study is based on expert opinion in the context of India, it cannot be generalized for outsourcing scenarios elsewhere.
Practical implications
The software project manager can use the findings to get more insight into the project and divide the software team between onsite and offshore location.
Originality/value
The study is novel, as there is little attempt at finding the knowledge requirement to execute various kinds of business software development in outsourcing environment in the context of India.
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Debasisha Mishra and Biswajit Mahanty
The purpose of this paper is to find good values of onsite-offshore team strength; number of hours of communication between business users and onsite team and between onsite and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to find good values of onsite-offshore team strength; number of hours of communication between business users and onsite team and between onsite and offshore team so as to reduce project cost and improve schedule in a global software development (GSD) environment for software development project.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs system dynamics simulation approach to study software project characteristics in both co-located and distributed development environments. The authors consulted 14 experts from Indian software outsourcing industry during our model construction and validation.
Findings
The study results show that there is a drop in overall team productivity in outsourcing environment by considering the offshore options. But the project cost can be reduced by employing the offshore team for coding and testing work only with minimal training for imparting business knowledge. The research results show that there is a potential to save project cost by being flexible in project schedule.
Research limitations/implications
The implication of the study is that the project management team should be careful not to keep high percentage of manpower at offshore location in distributed software environment. A large offshore team can increase project cost and schedule due to higher training overhead, lower productivity and higher error proneness. In GSD, the management effort should be to keep requirement analysis and design work at onsite location and involves the offshore team in coding and testing work.
Practical implications
The software project manager can use the model results to divide the software team between onsite and offshore location during various phases of software development in distributed environment.
Originality/value
The study is novel as there is little attempt at finding the team distribution between onsite and offshore location in GSD environment.
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Packaged software companies evolve in an environment characterized by ever‐shorter product life cycles and ever‐increasing competition. Reaching the marketplace first is often the…
Abstract
Packaged software companies evolve in an environment characterized by ever‐shorter product life cycles and ever‐increasing competition. Reaching the marketplace first is often the way to gain a competitive advantage. This situation leads many packaged software organizations to change both their (often sequential) software development processes and rely on (often cross‐functional) teams. Reports on the software development practices of Software Corp., an organization developing software products for the travel industry, which experimented with several different approaches and finally implemented cross‐functional development teams. Data presented show that changes in the software development process deeply affect many aspects of the organization. The conclusions emphasize the importance of considering the work culture and organizational history when implementing a new software development method and highlight the importance of clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of all groups involved and the necessity to modify the company’s performance‐appraisal system to promote and support the new organizational objectives embodied in the changes in software development methods.
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This paper aims to explore the expertise level required in various kinds of business knowledge such as regulatory, domain, strategic, operation process and, business process to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the expertise level required in various kinds of business knowledge such as regulatory, domain, strategic, operation process and, business process to execute globally distributed software projects for development, re-engineering and maintenance projects in the Indian outsourcing software industry.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted a questionnaire survey method to collect the expert responses for a knowledge management framework which is suggested in the literature for software development work. The questionnaire survey findings were verified by expert interviews.
Findings
The research shows that there is a lot of similarity between re-engineering and maintenance projects for different kinds of business knowledge expertise requirements for execution. The development projects require higher expertise in all the business knowledge for execution.
Research limitations/implications
The research work studies the business knowledge required for the execution of development, re-engineering and maintenance projects in Indian outsourcing software projects. However, the project’s characteristics can vary drastically for a single kind of project. So the study cannot be generalized and instead should be used as a tool for learning.
Practical implications
The research findings can be used by software project managers to get insight into project planning, which can help the division of work between the onsite, offshore team and individual work allocation.
Originality/value
The research is novel as there are very few previous attempts to find the business expertise needed to execute various kinds of software projects in the Indian outsourcing industry.
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Arthur Ahimbisibwe, Urs Daellenbach and Robert Y. Cavana
Aligning the project management methodology (PMM) to a particular project is considered to be essential for project success. Many outsourced software projects fail to deliver on…
Abstract
Purpose
Aligning the project management methodology (PMM) to a particular project is considered to be essential for project success. Many outsourced software projects fail to deliver on time, budget or do not give value to the client due to inappropriate choice of a PMM. Despite the increasing range of available choices, project managers frequently fail to seriously consider their alternatives. They tend to narrowly tailor project categorization systems and categorization criterion is often not logically linked with project objectives. The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a contingency fit model comparing the differences between critical success factors (CSFs) for outsourced software development projects in the current context of traditional plan-based and agile methodologies.
Design/methodology/approach
A theoretical model and 54 hypotheses were developed from a literature review. An online Qualtrics survey was used to collect data to test the proposed model. The survey was administered to a large sample of senior software project managers and practitioners who were involved in international outsourced software development projects across the globe with 984 valid responses.
Findings
Results indicate that various CSFs differ significantly across agile and traditional plan-based methodologies, and in different ways for various project success measures.
Research limitations/implications
This study is cross-sectional in nature and data for all variables were obtained from the same sources, meaning that common method bias remains a potential threat. Further refinement of the instrument using different sources of data for variables and future replication using longitudinal approach is highly recommended.
Practical implications
Practical implications of these results suggest project managers should tailor PMMs according to various organizational, team, customer and project factors to reduce project failure rates.
Originality/value
Unlike previous studies this paper develops and empirically validates a contingency fit model comparing the differences between CSFs for outsourced software development projects in the context of PMMs.
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Arthur Ahimbisibwe, Robert Y Cavana and Urs Daellenbach
While the choices available for project management methodologies have increased significantly, questions remain on whether project managers fully consider their alternatives. When…
Abstract
Purpose
While the choices available for project management methodologies have increased significantly, questions remain on whether project managers fully consider their alternatives. When project categorization systems and criteria are not logically matched with project objectives, characteristics and environment, this may provide the key reason for why many software projects are reported to fail to deliver on time, budget or do not give value to the client. The purpose of this paper is to identify and categorize critical success factors (CSFs) and develop a contingency fit model contrasting perspectives of traditional plan-based and agile methodologies.
Design/methodology/approach
By systematically reviewing the previous literature, a total of 37 CSFs for software development projects are identified from 148 articles, and then categorized into three major CSFs: organizational, team and customer factors. A contingency fit model augments this by highlighting the necessity to match project characteristics and project management methodology to these CSFs.
Findings
Within the three major categories of CSFs, individual factors are ranked based on how frequently they have been cited in previous studies, overall as well as across the two main project management methodologies (traditional, agile). Differences in these rankings as well as mixed empirical support suggest that previous research may not have adequately theorized when particular CSFs will affect project success and lend support for the hypothesized contingency model between CSFs, project characteristics and project success criteria.
Research limitations/implications
This research is conceptual and meta-analytic in its focus. A crucial task for future research should be to test the contingency fit model developed using empirical data. There is no broad consensus among researchers and practitioners in categorizing CSFs for software development projects. However, through an extensive search and analysis of the literature on CSFs for software development projects, the research provides greater clarity on the categories of CSFs and how their direct, indirect and moderated effects on project success can be modelled.
Practical implications
This study proposes a contingency fit model and contributes towards developing a theory for assessing the role of CSFs for project success. While future empirical testing of this conceptual model is essential, it provides an initial step for guiding quantitative data collection, specifies detailed empirical analysis for comparative studies, and is likely to improve clarity in debate. Since previous studies have not rigorously assessed the impact of fit between project characteristics, project environment and project management methodology on project success, additional empirically robust studies will help to clarify contradictory findings that have limited theory development for CSFs of software development projects to date.
Originality/value
Previous research for software development projects has frequently not fully incorporated contingency as moderation or contingency as fit (traditional vs agile). This research sets out to develop fully a contingency fit perspective on software development project success, through contrasting traditional plan-driven and agile methodologies. To do this, the paper systematically identifies and ranks 37 CSFs for software projects from 148 journal publications and holistically categorizes them as organizational, team, customer and project factors.
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