A PRELIMINARY INQUIRY INTO THE SOFTWARE ESTIMATION PROCESS,

Abstract

The report reviews the literature of software estimation and reports a small experiment comparing Delphi with face-to-face group judgment to predict the time necessary to program an information system--in this case, the Air Force's PDSO (Personnel Data System--Officers). Planning software production is necessary but almost impossible at present. Cost to completion depends on many factors, some unknown at the time and all hard to quantify (the difficulty of the task, the programmer's ability and familiarity with the procedures involved, the degree of definition provided him, and about 80 other factors). The experiments undertaken failed to establish the utility of either estimation method. Primary recommendations for further research are: (1) more effective data collection, (2) analysis of characteristics of good estimators, and (3) formal inquiry into the techniques used by estimators. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 1970
Accession Number
AD0712052

Entities

People

  • J. A. Farquhar

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Algorithms
  • Cognition
  • Estimators
  • Humanities
  • Information Systems
  • Judgment
  • Literature
  • Mathematics
  • Mental Processes
  • Production

Readers

  • Life Cycle Cost Analysis
  • Software Engineering.
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.