Abstract
Task allocation is one central aspect in planning and managing global software development projects. To date several models that support task allocation have been proposed, including cost models and risk-based approaches. However, systematic integration of such models and a guiding process for task allocation activities is widely missing. In this article, we integrate existing models that reflect different viewpoints and abstraction levels of task allocation decisions. Based on the integrated approach, we sketch a process for systematic evaluation and selection of task assignments that defines the model interfaces and the sequential order of their use. In detail, the approach presented here integrates a risk model that is able to identify the possible risks for each assignment individually, an optimization model that uses Bayesian networks to suggest assignment alternatives with respect to multiple criteria, and an effort overhead model that is able to estimate the project effort for each assignment alternative. All three models are significantly grounded in empirical studies. Besides the introduction of all three models and the description of the process, the article provides an example application, sketches related work, and presents an overview of future work.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Grinter, R.E., Herbsleb, J.D., Perry, D.E.: The geography of coordination: Dealing with Distance in R&D Work. In: Proc. ACM Conference on Supporting Group Work (GROUP 1999), pp. 306–315 (1999)
Mockus, A., Weiss, D.M.: Globalization by Chunking: A Quantitative Approach. IEEE Software 18(2), 30–37 (2001)
Lamersdorf, A., Münch, J., Rombach, D.: A survey on the state of the practice in distributed software development: Criteria for task allocation. In: Proceedings Fourth International Conference on Global Software Engineering, pp. 41–50 (2009)
Bass, M., Paulish, D.: Global Software Development Process Research at Siemens. In: Third International Workshop on Global Software Development (2004)
Keil, P., Paulish, D.J., Sangwan, R.: Cost Estimation for Global Software Development. In: International Workshop on Economics Driven Software Engineering, Shanghai, China, pp. 7–10 (2006)
Herbsleb, J.D., Mockus, A.: An Empirical Study of Speed and Communication in Globally-Distributed Software Development. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering 29(6), 481–494 (2003)
Smite, D., Moe, N.B.: Understanding a Lack of Trust in Global Software Teams: A Multiple-Case Study. In: Münch, J., Abrahamsson, P. (eds.) PROFES 2007. LNCS, vol. 4589, pp. 20–34. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)
Carmel, E., Abbott, P.: Why ‘nearshore’ means that distance matters. Communications of the ACM 50(10), 40–46 (2007)
Palmer, J., Speier, C., Buckley, M., Moore, J.E.: Recruiting and retaining IS personnel: factors influencing employee turnover. In: ACM SIGCPR Conference on Computer Personnel Research, pp. 286–288 (1998)
Lamersdorf, A., Münch, J., Rombach, H.D.: A Decision Model for Supporting Task Allocation Processes in Global Software Development. In: PROFES 2009, LNBIP, vol. 32, pp. 332–346. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)
Lamersdorf, A., Münch, J.: TAMRI: A Tool for Supporting Task Distribution in Global Software Development Projects. In: International Workshop on Tool Support Development and Management in Distributed Software Projects, collocated with the IEEE International Conference on Global Software Engineering, ICGSE 2009, pp. 322–327 (2009)
Lamersdorf, A., Münch, J.: Studying the Impact of Global Software Development Characteristics on Project Goals: A Causal Model. The Open Software Engineering Journal (accepted for publication)
Münch, J., Lamersdorf, A.: Systematic Task Allocation Evaluation in Distributed Software Development. In: Meersman, R., Herrero, P., Dillon, T. (eds.) OTM 2009 Workshops. LNCS, vol. 5872, pp. 228–237. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)
Lamersdorf, A., Münch, J., Rombach, H.D.: Towards a Multi-criteria Development Distribution Model: An Analysis of Existing Task Distribution Approaches. In: Third IEEE International Conference on Global Software Development, pp. 109–118 (2008)
Edwards, H.K., Kim, J.H., Park, S., Al-Ani, B.: Global Software Development: Project Decomposition and Task Allocation. In: International Conference on Business and Information (2008)
Setamanit, S., Wakeland, W.W., Raffo, D.: Planning and Improving Global Software Development Process Using Simulation. In: International Workshop on Global Software Development for the Practitioner (2006)
Setamanit, S., Wakeland, W.W., Raffo, D.: Using simulation to evaluate global software development task allocation strategies. Software Process: Improvement and Practice 12(5), 491–503 (2007)
Sooraj, P., Mohapatra, P.K.J.: Developing an Inter-site Coordination Index for Global Software Development. In: International IEEE Conference on Global Software Engineering, pp. 119–128 (2008)
Raghvinder, S., Bass, M., Mullick, N., Paulish, D.J., Kazmeier, J.: Global Software Development Handbook. Auerbach Publications, London (2006)
Prikladnicki, R., Audy, J.L.N., Evaristo, R.: A Reference Model for Global Software Development: Findings from a Case Study. In: International IEEE Conference on Global Software Engineering, pp. 18–28 (2006)
Ralyte, J., Lamielle, X., Arni-Bloch, N., Leonard, M.: A Framework for Supporting Management in Distributed Information Systems Development. In: Second International Conference on Research Challenges in Information Science, pp. 381–392 (2008)
Ebert, C., Murthy, B.K., Jha, N.N.: Managing Risks in Global Software Engineering: Principles and Practices. In: International Conference on Global Software Engineering, pp. 131–140 (2008)
Smite, D.: Project Outcome Predictions: Risk Barometer Based on Historical Data. In: International IEEE Conference on Global Software Engineering, pp. 103–112 (2007)
Boehm, B., Abts, C., Brown, A., Chulani, S., Clark, B., Horowitz, E., Madachy, R., Reifer, D., Steece, B.: Software Cost Estimation with COCOMO II. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs (2000)
Betz, S., Mäkiö, J.: Amplification of the COCOMO II regarding Offshore Software Projects. In: Workshop on Offshoring of Software Development-Methods and Tools for Risk Management at the Second International Conference on Global Software Engineering (2007)
Madachy, R.: Distributed Global Development Parametric Cost Modeling. In: Wang, Q., Pfahl, D., Raffo, D.M. (eds.) ICSP 2007. LNCS, vol. 4470, pp. 159–168. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)
Fenton, N., Marsh, W., Neil, M., Cates, P., Forey, S., Tailor, M.: Making Resource Decisions for Software Projects. In: International Conference on Software Engineering, pp. 397–406 (2004)
Briand, L.C., El Emam, K., Bomarius, F.: COBRA: A Hybrid Method for Software Cost Estimation, Benchmarking, and Risk Assessment. In: International Conference on Software Engineering, pp. 390–399 (1998)
Trendowicz, A., Heidrich, J., Münch, J., Ishigai, Y., Yokoyama, K., Kikuchi, N.: Development of a Hybrid Cost Estimation Model in an Iterative Manner. In: International Conference on Software Engineering, pp. 331–340 (2006)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Lamersdorf, A., Münch, J. (2010). Model-Based Task Allocation in Distributed Software Development. In: Nordio, M., Joseph, M., Meyer, B., Terekhov, A. (eds) Software Engineering Approaches for Offshore and Outsourced Development. SEAFOOD 2010. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 54. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-13784-6_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-13784-6_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-13783-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-13784-6
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)