research-article

Exploring the human and organizational aspects of software cost estimation

Authors:

Ana Magazinius,

Robert FeldtAuthors Info & Claims

CHASE '10: Proceedings of the 2010 ICSE Workshop on Cooperative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering

Pages 92 - 95

https://doi.org/10.1145/1833310.1833325

Published: 02 May 2010 Publication History

Abstract

Cost estimation is important for planning, scheduling, budgeting and pricing of software development. Previous research has mainly focused on improving estimates and the associated processes. However, there is still a lack of research on human and organizational aspects of cost estimation and informal uses of cost estimates. This paper presents initial findings from a qualitative study addressing these questions. Based on four semi-structured interviews with experienced managers from different software developing organizations we have identified a number of aspects not commonly discussed in the cost estimation literature. The analysis indicates that cost estimates are used not only for prediction and planning, but also play a role in power plays within the organizations based on the stakeholders' differing interests. There are also human and organizational factors that are likely to influence the quality of estimates.

We also suggest a basic taxonomy of attributes that could be used to structure the many issues involved in and affecting software cost estimation. We conclude that there are many factors that affect software cost estimation and need to be considered in future research. Longer-term this is important not only for cost estimation but can also be useful to understand how human and organizational factors affect software development processes in general.

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Cited By

Matsubara PSteinmacher IGadelha BConte T(2021)Buying time in software development: how estimates become commitments?2021 IEEE/ACM 13th International Workshop on Cooperative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering (CHASE)10.1109/CHASE52884.2021.00015(61-70)Online publication date: May-2021
https://doi.org/10.1109/CHASE52884.2021.00015
Rahikkala JHyrynsalmi SLeppänen VMikkonen THolvitie J(2017)Top Management Support for Software Cost EstimationProduct-Focused Software Process Improvement10.1007/978-3-319-69926-4_8(89-107)Online publication date: 28-Oct-2017
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69926-4_8
Lavallée MRobillard PBertolino ACanfora GElbaum S(2015)Why good developers write bad codeProceedings of the 37th International Conference on Software Engineering - Volume 110.5555/2818754.2818837(677-687)Online publication date: 16-May-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2818754.2818837
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Exploring the human and organizational aspects of software cost estimation
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Management of computing and information systems
      1. Implementation management
        Pricing and resource allocation
      2. Project and people management

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cover image ACM Conferences

CHASE '10: Proceedings of the 2010 ICSE Workshop on Cooperative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering

May 2010

127 pages

ISBN:9781605589664

DOI:10.1145/1833310

General Chairs:
Yvonne Dittrich
IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark
,
Cleidson de Souza
IBM Brazil, Brazil
,
Mikko Korpela
University of Eastern Finland, Finland
,
Helen Sharp
Open University, UK
,
Janice Singer
NRC, Canada
,
Heike Winshiers-Theophilus
Polytechnic of Namibia, Namibia

Copyright © 2010 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 02 May 2010

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ICSE '10: 32nd International Conference on Software Engineering

May 2, 2010

Cape Town, South Africa

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Overall Acceptance Rate 47 of 70 submissions, 67%

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Cited By

Matsubara PSteinmacher IGadelha BConte T(2021)Buying time in software development: how estimates become commitments?2021 IEEE/ACM 13th International Workshop on Cooperative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering (CHASE)10.1109/CHASE52884.2021.00015(61-70)Online publication date: May-2021
https://doi.org/10.1109/CHASE52884.2021.00015
Rahikkala JHyrynsalmi SLeppänen VMikkonen THolvitie J(2017)Top Management Support for Software Cost EstimationProduct-Focused Software Process Improvement10.1007/978-3-319-69926-4_8(89-107)Online publication date: 28-Oct-2017
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69926-4_8
Lavallée MRobillard PBertolino ACanfora GElbaum S(2015)Why good developers write bad codeProceedings of the 37th International Conference on Software Engineering - Volume 110.5555/2818754.2818837(677-687)Online publication date: 16-May-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2818754.2818837
Mercado Caruso NPuerta del Castillo ESalas Navarro K(2015)Mejora de los procesos de estimación de costos de software. Caso del sector de software de BarranquillaRevista Ingenierías Universidad de Medellín10.22395/rium.v14n27a1214:27(195-220)Online publication date: 2015
https://doi.org/10.22395/rium.v14n27a12
Lavallee MRobillard P(2015)Why Good Developers Write Bad Code: An Observational Case Study of the Impacts of Organizational Factors on Software Quality2015 IEEE/ACM 37th IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering10.1109/ICSE.2015.83(677-687)Online publication date: May-2015
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSE.2015.83

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