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Software productivity: Potential, actual, and perceived
Author(s) -
AbdelHamid Tarek K.,
Madnick Stuart
Publication year - 1989
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.4260050202
Subject(s) - productivity , software , control (management) , software development , production (economics) , computer science , risk analysis (engineering) , business , economics , microeconomics , artificial intelligence , macroeconomics , programming language
In this article, we investigate the dynamics of software development productivity throughout the software development lifecycle. Our investigation discerns three forms of productivity, namely, potential, actual, and perceived. This conceptual dissection of productivity provides a useful lens for focusing on two distinct sets of managerial concerns: losses in the efficiency of software production, and losses in the effectiveness of managerial control. Losses in production efficiency stem from faulty processes associated with motivation and communication and lead to a gap between potential productivity and actual productivity. Losses in the effectiveness of managerial control arise, particularly in the early stages of a software project, from the discrepancy between what management perceives productivity to be and what it actually is.