{"title":"An Investigation on the Variation of Software Development Productivity ","authors":"Zhizhong Jiang, Peter Naud\u00e9, Craig Comstock","volume":4,"journal":"International Journal of Computer and Information Engineering","pagesStart":957,"pagesEnd":967,"ISSN":"1307-6892","URL":"https:\/\/publications.waset.org\/pdf\/12425","abstract":"
The productivity of software development is one of the major concerns for project managers. Given the increasing complexity of the software being developed and the concomitant rise in the typical project size, the productivity has not consistently improved. By analyzing the latest release of ISBSG data repository with 4106 projects ever developed, we report on the factors found to significantly influence productivity, and present an original model for the estimation of productivity during project design. We further illustrate that software development productivity has experienced irregular variations between the years 1995 and 2005. Considering the factors significant to productivity, we found its variations are primarily caused by the variations of average team size for the development and the unbalanced use of the less productive development language 3GL.<\/p>\r\n","references":"[1] R. S. Pressman, Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach. London:\r\nMcgraw-Hill, 2001.\r\n[2] S. T. Albin, The Art of Software Architecture: Design Methods and\r\nTechniques. New York: Wiley, 2003.\r\n[3] B. Kitchenham and E. Mendes, \"Software productivity measurement\r\nusing multiple size measures,\" IEEE Transactions on Software\r\nEngineering, vol. 30, pp. 1023-1035, 2004.\r\n[4] W. S. Humphrey and N. D. Singpurwalla, \"Predicting (individual)\r\nsoftware productivity,\" IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol.\r\n17, pp. 196-207, 1991.\r\n[5] K. D. Maxwell and P. Forselius, \"Benchmarking software development\r\nproductivity,\" IEEE Software, vol. 17, pp. 80-88, 2000.\r\n[6] S. Morasca and G. Russo, \"An empirical study of software productivity,\"\r\npresented at Proceedings of the 25th International Computer Software\r\nand Applications Conference on Invigorating Software Development,\r\nChicago, 2001.\r\n[7] M. Arnold and P. Pedross, \"Software size measurement and productivity\r\nrating in a large-scalesoftware development department,\" presented at\r\n20th International Conference on Software Engineering, Kyoto, Japan,\r\n1998.\r\n[8] N. R. Howes, \"Managing software development projects for maximum\r\nproductivity,\" IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. SE10, pp.\r\n27-35, 1984.\r\n[9] J. D. Blackburn, G. D. Scudder, and L. N. V. Wassenhove, \"Improving\r\nspeed and productivity of software development: a global survey of\r\nsoftware developers,\" IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol.\r\n22, pp. 875-885, 1996.\r\n[10] R. E. Loesh, \"Improving productivity through standard design\r\ntemplates,\" Data Processing, vol. 27, pp. 57-59, 1985.\r\n[11] G. R. Finnie, G. E. Wittig, and D. Petkov, \"Prioritizing software\r\ndevelopment productivity factors using the analytic hierarchy process,\"\r\nJournal of Systems and Software, vol. 22, pp. 129-139, 1993.\r\n[12] K. Maxwell, L. V. Wassenhove, and S. Dutta, \"Software development\r\nproductivity of European space, military and industrial applications,\"\r\nIEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. 22, pp. 706-718, 1996.\r\n[13] D. N. Card, F. E. McGarry, and G. T. Page, \"Evaluating software\r\nengineering technologies,\" IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering,\r\nvol. SE-13, pp. 845-851, 1987.\r\n[14] B. W. Boehm and P. N. Papaccio, \"Understanding and Controlling\r\nSoftware Costs,\" IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. 14,\r\npp. 1462-1477, 1988.\r\n[15] I. R. Chiang and V. S. Mookerjee, \"Improving software team\r\nproductivity,\" Communications of the ACM, vol. 47, pp. 89-93, 2004.\r\n[16] D. Anselmo and H. Ledgard, \"Measuring productivity in the software\r\nindustry,\" Communications of the ACM, vol. 46, pp. 121-125, 2003.\r\n[17] R. Groth, \"Is the software industry's productivity declining?,\" IEEE\r\nSoftware, vol. 21, pp. 92-94, 2004.\r\n[18] Q. Liu and R. C. Mintram, \"Preliminary data analysis methods in\r\nsoftware estimation,\" Software Quality Journal, vol. 13, pp. 91-115,\r\n2005.\r\n[19] W. Harrison, \"A flexible method for maintaining software metrics data: a\r\nuniversal metrics repository,\" Journal of Systems and Software, vol. 72,\r\npp. 225-234, 2004.\r\n[20] C. J. Lokan, \"An empirical analysis of function point adjustment factors,\"\r\nInformation and Software Technology, vol. 42, pp. 649-660, 2000.\r\n[21] R. Jeffery, M. Ruhe, and I. Wieczorek, \"A comparative study of two\r\nsoftware development cost modeling techniques using\r\nmulti-organizational and company-specific data,\" Information and\r\nSoftware Technology, vol. 42, pp. 1009-1016, 2000.\r\n[22] J. J. Cuadrado-Gallego, M. Sicilia, M. Garre, and D. Rodr\u251c\u00a1guez, \"An\r\nempirical study of process-related attributes in segmented software\r\ncost-estimation relationships,\" Journal of Systems and Software, vol. 79,\r\npp. 353-361, 2006.\r\n[23] J. Moses, M. Farrow, N. Parrington, and P. Smith, \"A productivity\r\nbenchmarking case study using Bayesian credible intervals,\" Software\r\nQuality Journal, vol. 14, pp. 37-52, 2006.\r\n[24] G. H. Subramanian and G. E. Zarnich, \"An examination of some software\r\ndevelopment effort and productivity determinants in ICASE tool\r\nprojects,\" Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 12, pp.\r\n143-160, 1996.\r\n[25] C. A. Behrens, \"Measuring the productivity of computer systems\r\ndevelopment activities with function points,\" IEEE Transactions on\r\nSoftware Engineering, vol. SE-9, pp. 648-652, 1983.\r\n[26] A. MacCormack, C. F. Kemerer, M. Cusumano, and B. Crandall,\r\n\"Trade-offs between productivity and quality in selecting software\r\ndevelopment practices,\" IEEE Software, vol. 20, pp. 78-85, 2003.\r\n[27] M. H. Halstead, Elements of Software Science. New York: Elsevier, 1977.\r\n[28] C. F. Kemerer, \"Reliability of function points measurement: a field\r\nexperiment,\" Communications of the ACM, vol. 36, pp. 85-97, 1993.\r\n[29] C. R. Symons, \"Function point analysis: difficulties and improvements,\"\r\nIEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. 14, pp. 2-11, 1988.\r\n[30] C. F. Kemerer and B. S. Porter, \"Improving the reliability of function\r\npoint measurement: an empirical study,\" IEEE Transactions on Software\r\nEngineering, vol. 18, pp. 1011-1024, 1992.\r\n[31] F. Louis, \"Team size and productivity in systems development,\"\r\nInformation Systems Management, vol. 8, pp. 27-35, 1991.\r\n[32] S. D. Conte, H. E. Dunsmore, and Y. E. Shen, Software Engineering\r\nMetrics and Models. Redwood City, CA: Benjamin-Cummings\r\nPublishing, 1986.\r\n[33] E. Mendes and B. Kitchenham, \"Web Productivity Measurement and\r\nBenchmarking,\" in Web Engineering, E. Mendes and N. Mosley, Eds.\r\nBerlin: Springer, 2006, pp. 75-106.\r\n[34] R. Klepper and D. Bock, \"Third and fourth generation language\r\nproductivity differences,\" Communications of the ACM, vol. 38, pp.\r\n69-79, 1995.\r\n[35] B. P. Lientz, E. B. Swanson, and G. E. Tompkins, \"Characteristics of\r\napplication software maintenance,\" Communications of the ACM, vol. 21,\r\npp. 466-471, 1978.\r\n[36] G. H. Subramanian, P. C. Pendharkar, and M. Wallace, \"An empirical\r\nstudy of the effect of complexity, platform, and program type on software\r\ndevelopment effort of business applications,\" Empirical Software\r\nEngineering, vol. 11, pp. 541-553, 2006.\r\n[37] J. Martin, Rapid Application Development. New York: Macmillan, 1991.\r\n[38] B. W. Boehm, T. E. Gray, and T. Seewaldt, \"Prototyping vs. specifying: A\r\nmulti-project experiment,\" presented at 7th International Conference on\r\nSoftware Engineering, Orlando, 1984.\r\n[39] R. T. Coupe and N. M. Onodu, \"An empirical evaluation of the impact of\r\nCASE on developer productivity and software quality,\" Journal of\r\nInformation Technology, vol. 11, pp. 173-181, 1996.\r\n[40] D. Flynn, J. Vagner, and O. D. Vecchio, \"Is CASE technology improving\r\nquality and productivity in software development?,\" Logistics\r\nInformation Management, vol. 8, pp. 8-23, 1995.\r\n[41] T. Bruckhaus, N. H. Madhavii, I. Janssen, and J. Henshaw, \"The impact\r\nof tools on software productivity,\" IEEE Software, vol. 13, pp. 29-38,\r\n1996.\r\n[42] B. A. Kitchenham, \"Empirical studies of assumptions that underlie\r\nsoftware cost-estimation models,\" Information and Software Technology,\r\nvol. 34, pp. 211-218, 1992.\r\n[43] K. Maxwell, Applied Statistics for Software Managers. New Jersey:\r\nPrentice Hall, 2002.\r\n[44] NESMA, NESMA FPA Counting Practices Manual 2.0: Nesma\r\nAssociation, 1996.\r\n[45] S. A. Green, \"How many subjects does it take to do a multiple regression\r\nanalysis?,\" Multivariate Behavioral Research, vol. 26, pp. 499-510,\r\n1991.\r\n[46] SAS Institute Inc, SAS\/Stat User's Guide: Version 6 4th edition ed. Cary,\r\nNC: SAS Institute Inc, 1990.\r\n[47] M. J. Crawley, An Introduction to Data Analysis using S-Plus. Chichester:\r\nJohn Wiley & Sons, 2002.\r\n[48] W. N. Venables and B. D. Ripley, Modern applied statistics with S. New\r\nYork: Springer, 2002.\r\n[49] A. C. Rencher, Linear Models in Statistics. New York: John Wiley &\r\nSons, 2000.\r\n[50] W. J. Krzanowski, An Introduction to Statistical Modelling. London:\r\nArnold, 1998.\r\n[51] R. Peck, C. Olsen, and J. Devore, Introduction to Statistics and Data\r\nAnalysis. London: Duxbury, 2001.","publisher":"World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology","index":"Open Science Index 4, 2007"}