Agent-based simulation for software project planning

Estimates of task duration and resource requirements in software engineering are notoriously inaccurate, and as a result effective project management often must be very dynamic. In response to new information or revised estimates, it may be necessary to reassign resources, cancel optional tasks, etc. Project management tools that make projections while treating decisions about tasks and resource assignments as static will not yield realistic results. In this paper we describe some preliminary attempts to adapt a simulation-based planning algorithm developed for planning experimental activities of Mars rovers to the problem of planning for software project management. Simulation techniques offer the potential for modeling the way agents behave in project development, and the way a manager might adapt the project plan based on the project status at future points, resulting in a tool that more accurately reflects the realities of software project management