Effective Software Project Management Education through Simulation Models: An Externally Replicated Experiment

Abstract

It is an undeniable fact that software project managers need reliable techniques and robust tool support to be able to exercise a fine control over the development process so that products can be delivered in time and within budget. Therefore, managers need to be trained so that they could learn and use new techniques and be aware of their possible impacts. In this context, effective learning is an issue. A small number of empirical studies have been carried out to study the impact of software engineering education. One such study is by Pfahl et al [11] in which they have performed a controlled experiment to evaluate the learning effectiveness of using a process simulation model for educating computer science students in software project management. The experimental group applied a Systems Dynamics simulation model while the control group used the COCOMO model as a predictive tool for project planning. The results indicated that students using the simulation model gain a better understanding about typical behaviour patterns of software development projects. Experiments need to be externally replicated to both verify and generalise original results. In this paper, we will discuss an externally replicated experiment in which we keep the design and the goal of the above experiment intact. We then analyse our results in relation to the original experiment and another externally replicated experiment, discussed in [12].