Impact of software resource estimation research on practice: a preliminary report on achievements, synergies, and challenges

This paper is a contribution to the Impact Project in the area of software resource estimation. The objective of the Impact Project has been to analyze the impact of software engineering research investments on software engineering practice. The paper begins by summarizing the motivation and context for analyzing software resource estimation; and by summarizing the study's purpose, scope, and approach. The approach includes analyses of the literature; interviews of leading software resource estimation researchers, practitioners, and users; and value/impact surveys of estimators and users. The study concludes that research in software resource estimation has had a significant impact on the practice of software engineering, but also faces significant challenges in addressing likely future software trends.

[1]  Magne Jørgensen,et al.  A Systematic Review of Software Development Cost Estimation Studies , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering.

[2]  P. Krutchen,et al.  The Rational Unified Process: An Introduction , 2000 .

[3]  Victor R. Basili,et al.  A meta-model for software development resource expenditures , 1981, ICSE '81.

[4]  D. Ross Jeffery,et al.  A Comparison of Function Point Counting Techniques , 1993, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[5]  Michael Evans,et al.  Software sizing, estimation, and risk management , 2006 .

[6]  Barry W. Boehm,et al.  Anchoring the Software Process , 1996, IEEE Softw..

[7]  BoehmBarry,et al.  Using the WinWin Spiral Model , 1998 .

[8]  Capers Jones,et al.  Programming Productivity , 1986 .

[9]  Maurice H. Halstead,et al.  Elements of software science (Operating and programming systems series) , 1977 .

[10]  Michael J. Prietula,et al.  Examining the Feasibility of a Case-Based Reasoning Model for Software Effort Estimation , 1992, MIS Q..

[11]  Lois Harvey Morin,et al.  Estimation of resources for computer programming projects. , 1973 .

[12]  Barry W. Boehm,et al.  Value-based processes for COTS-based applications , 2005, IEEE Software.

[13]  Lawrence H. Putnam,et al.  A General Empirical Solution to the Macro Software Sizing and Estimating Problem , 1978, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering.

[14]  Walker Royce,et al.  Software Project Management: A Unified Framework , 1998 .

[15]  Girish Parikh,et al.  Tutorial on Software Maintenance , 1983 .

[16]  Magne Jørgensen,et al.  A Systematic Review of Software Development Cost Estimation Studies , 2007 .

[17]  O. Arshad,et al.  Measuring software reuse , 2002, IEEE Students Conference, ISCON '02. Proceedings..

[18]  R. W. Selby,et al.  Empirically analyzing software Reuse in a production environment , 1988 .

[19]  Paul Rook,et al.  Controlling software projects , 1986, Softw. Eng. J..

[20]  Barry W. Boehm,et al.  Software Development Effort Estimation: Formal Models or Expert Judgment? , 2009, IEEE Software.

[21]  Ivar Jacobson,et al.  The Unified Software Development Process , 1999 .

[22]  Alain Abran,et al.  Function points: A study of their measurement processes and scale transformations , 1994, J. Syst. Softw..

[23]  Barry W. Boehm,et al.  Using the WinWin Spiral Model: A Case Study , 1998, Computer.

[24]  Vladan Devedzic,et al.  Software Project Management , 2001 .

[25]  Barry W. Boehm,et al.  Software Engineering Economics , 1993, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering.

[26]  Richard W. Pew,et al.  Human-system integration in the system development process : a new look , 2007 .

[27]  William G. Griswold,et al.  The structure and value of modularity in software design , 2001, ESEC/FSE-9.

[28]  Barry W. Boehm,et al.  Value-based software engineering: reinventing , 2003, SOEN.

[29]  RAY W. WOLVERTON,et al.  The Cost of Developing Large-Scale Software , 1974, IEEE Transactions on Computers.

[30]  Mike Cohn,et al.  Agile Estimating and Planning , 2005 .

[31]  Claude E. Walston,et al.  A Method of Programming Measurement and Estimation , 1977, IBM Syst. J..

[32]  David Zubrow,et al.  Moving On Up: Data and Experience Doing CMM-Based Process Improvement , 1995 .

[33]  Magne Jørgensen,et al.  A review of studies on expert estimation of software development effort , 2004, J. Syst. Softw..

[34]  William E. Riddle,et al.  Software technology maturation , 1985, ICSE '85.

[35]  Martin Fowler,et al.  Planning Extreme Programming , 2000 .

[36]  Charles R. Symons,et al.  Function Point Analysis: Difficulties and Improvements , 1988, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[37]  Barry W. Boehm,et al.  How Much Software Quality Investment Is Enough: A Value-Based Approach , 2006, IEEE Software.

[38]  George J. Bozoki An Expert Judgment-Based Software Sizing Model , 1993 .

[39]  John E. Gaffney,et al.  Software Function, Source Lines of Code, and Development Effort Prediction: A Software Science Validation , 1983, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering.

[40]  Gavin R. Finnie,et al.  Estimating software development effort with connectionist models , 1997, Inf. Softw. Technol..

[41]  Donald J. Reifer,et al.  Making the Software Business Case , 2001 .

[42]  Frank E. Ritter A Summary of Human-System Integration in the System Development Process , 2009 .

[43]  Michel Ezran,et al.  Practical Software Reuse , 2002, Practitioner Series.

[44]  Martin J. Shepperd,et al.  Estimating Software Project Effort Using Analogies , 1997, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[45]  Carlo Ghezzi,et al.  Determining the Impact of Software Engineering Research on Practice , 2008, Computer.

[46]  Maurice H. Halstead,et al.  Elements of software science , 1977 .

[47]  David M. Weiss,et al.  Architecture reviews: practice and experience , 2005, IEEE Software.

[48]  Ellis Horowitz,et al.  Software Cost Estimation with COCOMO II , 2000 .

[49]  Barry Boehm,et al.  The ROI of systems engineering: Some quantitative results for software-intensive systems , 2008 .