Making Resource Decisions for Software Projects

Software metrics should support managerial decision making in software projects. We explain how traditional metrics approaches, such as regression-based models for cost estimation fall short of this goal. Instead, we describe a causal model (using a Bayesian network) which incorporates empirical data, but allows it to be interpreted and supplemented using expert judgement. We show how this causal model is used in a practical decision-support tool, allowing a project manager to trade-off the resources used against the outputs (delivered functionality, quality achieved) in a software project. The model and toolset have evolved in a number of collaborative projects and hence capture significant commercial input. Extensive validation trials are taking place among partners on the EC funded project MODIST (this includes Philips, Israel Aircraft Industries and QinetiQ) and the feedback so far has been very good. The estimates are sensible and the causal modelling approach enables decision-ma...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2004
• Where: ICSE
• Authors: Norman E. Fenton, William Marsh, Martin Neil, Patrick Cates, Simon Forey, Manesh Tailor
• Keywords: Causal Model, Causal Modelling Approach, EC Funded Project, ICSE 2004, Software Engineering