Abstract
Among agile methodologies, eXtreme Programming (XP) is one of the best known and better defined. However, one factor that hinders its application is the lack of native XP support for project management. One of the techniques that could help in the improvement of XP projects management is the simulation modeling. In this paper, we examine, through a literature review, the evidences of the application of modeling and simulation techniques to support the management in XP projects. From this review we conclude that there is still work to be done in this area, and more specifically in the teamwork management, having in mind that agile team management is the most influential factor in achieving agile team productivity. As a proof of concept, we present Sim-Xperience: a simulation model to assist the XP team in the management of their projects; this model, unlike those found in the literature, has been developed following the agent-based paradigm, especially suited to simulate social behaviors. Through the model input parameters you can configure the specific features of the project you want to simulate and of the development team. Thus, the model allows you to analyze the effect of different decisions on team management process, observing the evolution of the project development as well as the deviations in comparison with initial estimations. To illustrate the model simulation we have conducted a case study, where we have seen the results of the simulation model under two different allocation tasks strategies, concluding that using a strategy where the team member experience is not the priority criterion is better for the increase of team experience in the long term.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Dyba, T., Dingsøyr, T.: Empirical studies of agile software development: a systematic review. Inf. Softw. Technol. 50, 833–859 (2008)
Dyba, T., Dingsøyr, T.: What Do We Know about Agile S. D.? Soft. IEEE 26, 6–9 (2009)
Serrador, P., Pinto, J.K.: Does Agile work? — A quantitative analysis of agile project success. Int. J. Project Manage. 33, 1040–1051 (2015)
Awad, M.A.: A comparison between agile and traditional software development methodologies, M.S. Thesis, University of Western Australia (2005)
Beck, K.: Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change. Addison-Wesley, Boston (2000)
Beck, K., Andres, C.: Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change, 2nd edn. Addison-Wesley, Boston (2004)
Yong, Y., Zhou, B.: Evaluating extreme programming effect through system dynamics modeling. In: International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Software Engineering, CiSE (2009)
Melis, M., Turnu, I., Cau, A., Concas, G.: Evaluating the impact of test-first programming and pair programming through software process simulation. Softw. Process Improv. Pract. 11, 345–360 (2006)
Valkenhoef, G.V., Tervonen, T., Brock, B., Postmus, D.: Quantitative release planning in extreme programming. Inf. Softw. Technol. 53, 1227–1235 (2011)
Melo, C.O., Cruzes, D.S., Kon, F., Conradi, R.: Interpretative case studies on agile team productivity and management. Inf. Softw. Technol. 55, 412–427 (2013)
Kellner, M.I., Madachy, R.J., Raffo, D.M.: Software Process Simulation Modeling: Why? What? How? J. Syst. Softw. 46(2), 91–105 (1999)
Abdel-Hamid, T.: The dynamics of software project staffing: An Integrative System Dynamics Perspective, Ph.D. dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (1984)
Zhang, H., Kitchenham, B., Pfahl, D.: Reflections on 10 Years of Software Process Simulation Modeling: A Systematic Review. In: Wang, Q., Pfahl, D., Raffo, David M. (eds.) ICSP 2008. LNCS, vol. 5007, pp. 345–356. Springer, Heidelberg (2008). doi:10.1007/978-3-540-79588-9_30
Zhang, H., Kitchenham, B., Pfahl, D.: Software Process Simulation Modeling: An Extended Systematic Review. In: Münch, J., Yang, Y., Schäfer, W. (eds.) ICSP 2010. LNCS, vol. 6195, pp. 309–320. Springer, Heidelberg (2010). doi:10.1007/978-3-642-14347-2_27
Madachy, R.J.: Software Process Dynamics. Wiley-IEEE Press, Chichester (2008)
Kuppuswami, S., Vivekanandan, K., Rodrigues, P.: A system dynamics simulation model to find the effects of xp on cost of change curve. In: XP2003 Conference Proceedings, pp. 54–62 (2003)
Kuppuswami, S., Vivekanandan, K., Ramaswamy, P., Rodrigues, P.: The effects of individual XP practices on software development effort. SIGSOFT Softw. Eng. Notes 28(6), 6–7 (2003)
Misic, V.B., Gevaert, H., Rennie, M.: Extreme dynamics: Modeling the extreme programming software development process. In: Proceedings of ProSim04 workshop on Software Process Simulation and Modeling, pp. 237–242 (2004)
Turnu, I., Melis, M., Cau, A., Setzu, A., Concas, G., Mannaro, K.: Modeling and simulation of open source development using an agile practice. J. Syst. Archit. 52(11), 610–618 (2006)
Navarro, E.O.: SimSE: A Software Engineering Simulation Environment for Software Process Education. University of California, Irvine (2006)
Sterman, J.D.: Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World. McGraw-Hill, Boston (2000)
Martinez, I.J., Richardson, G.P.: Best practices in system dynamics modeling. In: Proceedings of the 29th International Conference of the System Dynamics Society, Hines, H., Diker, V.G. (eds.), Atlanta, GA, USA, pp. 1–22, plenary paper (2001)
Law, A.M.: How to build valid and credible simulation models. In: Proceedings of the 2009 Winter Simulation Conference, pp. 24–33 (2009)
Ali, N.B., Petersen, K.A.: A consolidated process for software process simulation: state of the art and industry experience. In: Proceedings of the 38th EUROMICRO Conference on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications, SEAA 2012, pp. 327–336, art. no. 6328171 (2012)
Anylogic (AnylogicTM) http://www.anylogic.com. Accessed: June 2017]
Sharp, H., Robinson, H.: Collaboration and coordination in mature eXtreme programming teams. Int. J. Hum Comput Stud. 66, 505–518 (2008)
Sargent, R.G.: Verification and validation of simulation models. In: Proceedings of the 2011 Winter Simulation Conference, pp. 183–198 (2011)
Sokolowski, J.A., Banks, C.M.: Principles of Modeling and Simulation: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Wiley, Hoboken (2009)
Sargent, R.G.: Verification and validation of simulation models. In: Proceedings of the 2011Winter Simulation Conference 2011, pp. 183–198 (2011)
Choi, K., Bae, D.: Dynamic project performance estimation by combining static estimation models with system dynamics. Inf. Softw. Technol. 51, 162–172 (2009)
Garousi, V., Khosrovian, K., Pfahl, D.: A customizable pattern-based software process simulation model: design, calibration and application. Softw. Process Improv. Pract. 14(3), 165–180 (2009)
Kouskouras, K.G., Georgiou, A.C.: A discrete event simulation model in the case of managing a software project. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 181(1), 374–389 (2007)
Acknowledgements
This work has been funded by the Spanish National Research Agency (AEI) with ERDF funds under grants TIN2013-46928-C3-2-R and TIN2016-76956-C3-3-R, and the Andalusian Plan for Research, Development and Innovation (grant TIC-195).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Hurtado, N., Ruiz, M., Capitas, C., Orta, E. (2017). Applying Agent-Based Simulation to the Improvement of Agile Software Management. In: Mas, A., Mesquida, A., O'Connor, R., Rout, T., Dorling, A. (eds) Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination. SPICE 2017. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 770. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67383-7_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67383-7_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-67382-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-67383-7
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)