Evaluating the effectiveness of process improvements on software development cycle time via system dynamics modelling

Reducing software development cycle time without sacrificing quality is crucial to the continued success of most software development organizations. Software companies are investing time and money in reengineering processes incorporating improvements aimed at reducing their cycle time. Unfortunately, the impact of process improvements on the cycle time of complex software processes is not well understood. The objective of our research has been to provide decision makers with a model that will enable the prediction of the impact a set of process improvements will have on their software development cycle time. This paper describes our initial results of developing such a model and applying it to assess the impact of software inspections. The model enables decision makers to gain insight and perform controlled experiments to answer "What if?" type questions, such as, "What kind of cycle time reduction can I expect to see if I implement inspections?" or "How much time should I spend on inspections?".