An extensible model for evaluating the impact of process improvements on software development cycle time

Reducing software development cycle time without sacrificing quality is crucial to the continued success of most software development organizations. Software companies are investing time and money in reengineering processes incorporating improvements aimed at reducing their cycle time. Unfortunately, the impact of process improvements on the cycle time of complex software processes is not well understood. The objective of this research was to provide a model that will enable researchers and software project managers to evaluate the impact a set of process improvements will have on their software development cycle time. This dissertation describes the initial results of developing such a model, specifically, concurrent incremental software development, and applying it to assess the impact of software inspections. The model enables researchers and software project managers to gain insight and perform controlled experiments to answer "What if?" type questions, such as, "What kind of cycle time reduction can I expect to see if I implement inspections?" or "How much time should I spend on inspections?"