An Experimental Investigation of the Impact of Conflicting Project Goals on Staff Resource Allocation.

Abstract

The Department of Defense Information Technology budget stands at nine billion dollars and is under severe scrutiny while the backlog of required software continues to grow. It is thereby necessary to improve the efficiency of managing the software process. This thesis uses the Systems Dynamic Model of Software Project Management to investigate the effects of stated goals on project manager behavior. Specifically, the experiment focuses on how software project managers allocate resources in both relaxed and constrained resource environments. The effect of goals on manager performance are measured in terms of staffing level decisions, percent of staff allocated to quality assurance activities, estimated schedule, and estimated cost. The results show that manager performance is highly sensitive to stated goals.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1995
Accession Number
ADA302988

Entities

People

  • Clinton L. Swett

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Computer Programming
  • Computer Programs
  • Computers
  • Cost Estimates
  • Data Sets
  • Department Of Defense
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Flight Simulators
  • Instruction Set Architecture
  • Project Management
  • Simulations
  • Simulators
  • Software Development
  • Students
  • Systems Management
  • Training

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Economics
  • Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
  • Organizational Process Management (OPM).