Project engineering

About: Project engineering is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 609 publications have been published within this topic receiving 8869 citations.

Investigating the cost/schedule trade-off in software development

Abstract: The author has studied the effects of schedule compression or stretch-out on total project cost within a much broader effort to study and predict the dynamics of the entire development process. The resulting cost/schedule tradeoffs were examined. Much of this project involved developing a comprehensive system-dynamics model. He used the model to conduct three simulation experiments. (1) He investigated the effects of different levels of schedule compression and stretch-out on total project cost in man-days and compared the results to those reported in the literature. (2) He addressed the stealthy role undersizing plays in schedule compression. (3) He investigated how different levels of managerial commitment affect the project's final cost and completion time. The results of all three experiments are presented and discussed. >

Energizing software engineering education through real-world projects as experimental studies

Abstract: Our experience shows that a typical industrial project can enhance software engineering research and bring theories to life. The University of Kentucky (UK) is in the initial phase of developing a software engineering curriculum. The first course, a graduate-level survey of software engineering, strongly emphasized quality engineering. assisted by the UK clinic, the students undertook a project to develop a phenylalanine milligram tracker. It helps phenylketonuria (PKU) sufferers to monitor their diet as well as assists PKU researchers to collect data. The project was also used as an informal experimental study. The applied project approach to teaching software engineering appears to be successful thus far. The approach taught many important software and quality engineering principles to inexperienced graduate students in an accurately simulated industrial development environment. It resulted in the development of a framework for describing and evaluating such a real-world project, including evaluation of the notion of a user advocate. It also resulted in interesting experimental trends, though based on a very small sample. Specifically, estimation skills seem to improve over time and function point estimation may be more accurate than LOC estimation.

RUNESTONE, an international student collaboration project

Abstract: Students will eventually work in a global market; what better preparation can be provided for international collaboration than...international collaboration? The RUNESTONE project is developing and evaluating the notion of incorporating international group projects into the undergraduate computer science curriculum. RUNESTONE adds new dimensions to student teamwork, requiring students to handle collaboration that is remote, cross-cultural and linguistically challenging. RUNESTONE is a three year project, with the prototype version running in Winter 1998 with students at Uppsala University, Sweden, and Grand Valley State University, Michigan, USA. The 1998 pilot study will be followed by a full-scale implementation in 1999 and another in 2000.

Managing by E-Mail: What E-mail Can Do for Engineering Project Management

Abstract: E-mails are, rightly or wrongly, a staple of the information and communication technology for managing work and collaborative activities. This paper examines the value of the content of e-mail at a project level rather than at the often-studied level of the individual user. The dataset consists of e-mails authored by an engineering team associated with a large, complex, long term, systems integration project, typical of the aerospace, marine, and defense sectors. The research applied a qualitative content analysis methodology to classify the content (what the e-mail contains) and purpose (why the e-mail was sent) of the e-mail in the dataset. The results of the content analysis were compared and contrasted with secondary evidence from interviews and project documentation to enable a time-phased analysis. The findings show that classifying e-mail content by the categories of management, information, and problem-solving transactions revealed signatures that align with project phases and, more importantly, problems encountered. Finally, we found that the purpose of e-mail is not necessarily consistent with the designated job role or responsibility of the sender or recipient. This paper contributes to empirical data on the relation between communication and project performance and the changing nature of e-mail communication throughout the lifecycle of a project. The findings point to a new way to leverage e-mail content to “manage by e-mail”.