Evaluating the Use of System Dynamics Models in Software Project Management MÁRCIO DE OLIVEIRA BARROS CLÁUDIA MARIA LIMA WERNER

This paper presents an empirical study aiming to evaluate the application of system dynamics models in software project management. In this study, a project concerning the specification and implementation of part of an academic control system for a graduate department was proposed for several participants. The project was decomposed into an activity network and several developers were available to accomplish the activities. Each participant was asked to impersonate as the project manager. Participants should make decisions in order to finish the project in the smallest time as possible. Such decisions included assigning the available developers to project activities (according to developer’s skills and activity’s requirements), deciding how many hours developers should work per day, and how much time to invest in quality assurance activities. Since a real project could not be initiated for each participant, a software project emulator was developed, where participants analyzed the project status and enacted their decisions. Half of the eighteen participants managed the project based only on their personal knowledge and experience, while the second half was allowed to use system dynamics models to support their decisions. The results from the experimental study analysis show that, for the selected participants, managers using system dynamics models to support their decision perform better than managers who base their decisions only upon personal experience. In this paper, we present detailed results from the experimental study and some directions to improve the application of system dynamics models in project management that where highlighted during the execution of the study.