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Dynamics of concurrent software development
Author(s) -
Rahmandad Hazhir,
Weiss David M.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
system dynamics review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.491
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1099-1727
pISSN - 0883-7066
DOI - 10.1002/sdr.425
Subject(s) - computer science , software development , software , software engineering , process (computing) , software development process , product (mathematics) , resource allocation , resource (disambiguation) , new product development , process management , dynamics (music) , systems engineering , engineering , business , operating system , marketing , computer network , geometry , mathematics , physics , acoustics
In a concurrent development process different releases of a software product overlap. Organizations involved in concurrent software development not only experience the dynamics common to single projects, but also face interactions between different releases of their product: they share resources among different stages of different projects, including customer support, they have a common code base and architecture that carries problems across releases, they use the same capabilities, and their market success in early releases impacts their resources in later ones. Drawing on two case studies we discuss some of the feedback processes central to concurrent software development and build a simple simulation model to analyze the resulting dynamics. This model sheds light on tipping dynamics, the nature of inter‐project feedback loops, and alternative resource allocation policies relevant to management of concurrent software development. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.