Buying time in software development: how estimates become commitments?

Matsubara, Patrícia; Steinmacher, Igor; Gadelha, Bruno; Conte, Tayana

doi:10.1109/chase52884.2021.00015

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The first was a systematic literature mapping of factors affecting software estimates when using expert-judgment [5]. The second was a qualitative study in industry, investigating how practitioners transform estimates into commitments [34]. These two studies evidenced the problem of pressure over estimates, leading practitioners to either change their estimates to more "acceptable" ones to stakeholders or to use padding of other tasks/projects to compensate for unrealistic commitments.…”

Section: A the Approach Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moving on from the software engineers' gambit: an approach to support the defense of software effort estimates

Matsubara¹,

Steinmacher²,

Gadelha³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Pressure for higher productivity and faster delivery is increasingly pervading software organizations. This can lead software engineers to act like chess players playing a gambitmaking sacrifices of their technically sound estimates, thus submitting their teams to time pressure. In turn, time pressure can have varied detrimental effects, such as poor product quality and emotional distress, decreasing productivity, which leads to more time pressure and delays: a hard-to-stop vicious cycle. This reveals a need for moving on from the more passive strategy of yielding to pressure to a more active one of defending software estimates. Therefore, we propose an approach to support software estimators in acquiring knowledge on how to carry out such defense, by introducing negotiation principles encapsulated in a set of defense lenses, presented through a digital simulation. We evaluated the proposed approach through a controlled experiment with software practitioners from different companies. We collected data on participants' attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intentions to perform the defense of their estimates in light of the Theory of Planned Behavior. We employed a frequentist and a bayesian approach to data analysis. Results show improved scores among experimental group participants after engaging with the digital simulation and learning about the lenses. They were also more inclined to choose a defense action when facing pressure scenarios than a control group exposed to questions to reflect on the reasons and outcomes of pressure over estimates. Qualitative evidence reveals that practitioners perceived the set of lenses as useful in their current work environments. Collectively, these results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach and its perceived relevance for the industry, despite the low amount of time required to engage with it.

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Section: A the Approach Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moving on from the software engineers' gambit: an approach to support the defense of software effort estimates

Matsubara¹,

Steinmacher²,

Gadelha³

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Agile methodologies emerged to reduce the risk of not completing the development of large systems due to budget, technological or resource constraints, among other reasons [ 47 , 48 ]. The emergence of agile methodologies made it possible to improve the success rate of software development projects and reduce the budget consumption of projects that are finally abandoned [ 49 , 50 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agile Methodologies Applied to the Development of Internet of Things (IoT)-Based Systems: A Review

Guerrero-Ulloa

Rodríguez-Domínguez

Hornos

2023

Sensors

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Throughout the evolution of software systems, empirical methodologies have been used in their development process, even in the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm, to develop IoT-based systems (IoTS). In this paper, we review the fundamentals included in the manifesto for agile software development, especially in the Scrum methodology, to determine its use and role in IoTS development. Initially, 4303 documents were retrieved, a number that was reduced to 186 after applying automatic filters and by the relevance of their titles. After analysing their contents, only 60 documents were considered. Of these, 38 documents present the development of an IoTS using some methodology, 8 present methodologies focused on the construction of IoTS software, and 14 present methodologies close to the systems life cycle (SLC). Finally, only one methodology can be considered SLC-compliant. Out of 38 papers presenting the development of some IoTS following a methodology for traditional information systems (ISs), 42.1% have used Scrum as the only methodology, while 10.5% have used Scrum combined with other methodologies, such as eXtreme Programming (XP), Kanban and Rapid Prototyping. In the analysis presented herein, the existing methodologies for developing IoTSs have been grouped according to the different approaches on which they are based, such as agile, modelling, and service oriented. This study also analyses whether the different proposals consider the standard stages of the development process or not: planning and requirements gathering, solution analysis, solution design, solution coding and unit testing (construction), integration and testing (implementation), and operation and maintenance. In addition, we include a review of the automated frameworks, platforms, and tools used in the methodologies analysed to improve the development of IoTSs and the design of their underlying architectures. To conclude, the main contribution of this work is a review for IoTS researchers and developers regarding existing methodologies, frameworks, platforms, tools, and guidelines for the development of IoTSs, with a deep analysis framed within international standards dictated for this purpose.

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“…Usually, receptors want to hit these targets. Previous research has shown that sometimes estimators are pressured to change their estimates [17] to meet targets when the software estimates collide with them [5], making estimates acceptable to receptors, or "defensible" [18]. In addition, time pressure-the perception that time is scarce considering the tasks' demands-is standard in the software industry, and commercial pressure is behind many of its causes [16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The best defense is a good defense: adapting negotiation methods for tackling pressure over software project estimates

Matsubara,

Steinmacher,

Gadelha

et al. 2022

Preprint

Self Cite

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Software estimation is critical for a software project's success and a challenging activity. We argue that estimation problems are not restricted to the generation of estimates but also their use for commitment establishment: project stakeholders pressure estimators to change their estimates or to accept unrealistic commitments to attain business goals. In this study, we employed a Design Science Research (DSR) methodology to design an artifact based on negotiation methods, to empower software estimators in defending their estimates and searching for alternatives to unrealistic commitments when facing pressure. The artifact is a concrete step towards disseminating the soft skill of negotiation among practitioners. We present the preliminary results from a focus group that showed that practitioners from the software industry could use the artifact in a concrete scenario when estimating and establishing commitments about a software project. Our future steps include improving the artifact with the suggestions from focus group participants and evaluating it empirically in real software projects in the industry. CCS CONCEPTS• Software and its engineering → Software development process management.

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Buying time in software development: how estimates become commitments?

Cited by 10 publications

References 37 publications

Moving on from the software engineers' gambit: an approach to support the defense of software effort estimates

Moving on from the software engineers' gambit: an approach to support the defense of software effort estimates

Agile Methodologies Applied to the Development of Internet of Things (IoT)-Based Systems: A Review

The best defense is a good defense: adapting negotiation methods for tackling pressure over software project estimates

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