Conceptual scheduling model and optimized release scheduling for agile environments

Context: Release scheduling deals with the selection and assignment of deliverable features to a sequence of consecutive product deliveries while several constraints are fulfilled. Although agile software development represents a major approach to software engineering, there is no well-established conceptual definition and sound methodological support of agile release scheduling. Objective: To propose a solution, we present, (1) a conceptual model for agile scheduling, and (2) a novel multiple knapsack-based optimization model with (3) a branch-and-bound optimization algorithm for agile release scheduling. Method: To evaluate our model simulations were carried out seven real life and several generated data sets. Results: The developed algorithm strives to prevent resource overload and resource underload, and mitigates risks of delivery slippage. Conclusion: The results of the experiment suggest that this approach can provide optimized semi-automatic release schedule generations and more informed and established decisions utilizing what-if-analysis on the fly to tailor the best schedule for the specific project context.

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