Title :
Software project initiation and planning - an empirical study
Author :
Greer, Des ; Conradi, Reidar
Author_Institution :
Sch. of Electron., Electr. Eng. & Comput. Sci., Queens Univ. Belfast, Belfast, UK
fDate :
10/1/2009 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
This study describes a study of 14 software companies, on how they initiate and pre-plan software projects. The aim was to obtain an indication of the range of planning activities carried out. The study, using a convenience sample, was carried out using structured interviews, with questions about early software project planning activities. The study offers evidence that an iterative and incremental development process presents extra difficulties in the case of fixed-contract projects. The authors also found evidence that feasibility studies were common, but generally informal in nature. Documentation of the planning process, especially for project scoping, was variable. For incremental and iterative development projects, an upfront decision on software architecture was shown to be preferred over allowing the architecture to just `emerge`. There is also evidence that risk management is recognised but often performed incompletely. Finally appropriate future research arising from the study is described.
Keywords :
risk management; software development management; strategic planning; documentation; fixed-contract projects; incremental development process; iterative process; risk management; software architecture; software project initiation; software project planning;
Journal_Title :
Software, IET
DOI :
10.1049/iet-sen.2008.0093