14.3 Defining Software Research Objectives

14.3 Defining Software Research Objectives

In the beginning, a new software research program will need some clearly defined research objectives. These, of course, will vary from organization to organization. The best strategy, perhaps, is to focus on those issues that will have the greatest financial impact on the software development process. If a clear case cannot be made for the benefits obtained from the initial investment in the research program, the research effort will die on the vine. Therefore, empirical research issues that can demonstrate value a priori should be considered. There are some real hot buttons in the software development process that come to mind immediately.

Time-to-market issues are central in software development. Many different obstacles arise that cause projects to be delayed. Any research program that can potentially ameliorate any of these obstacles can be seen to be of real and near-term benefit. A few small successes in simple research studies in this area will provide great interest in continuing and fully funding future research projects.

Software project planning is another area that has great potential for a new research program. It is very difficult to plan software projects. Any research project that can leverage the experience gained from past projects to plan for future projects is a clear winner. Much of this research will involve mining and measuring previous projects to learn how they have evolved. These data can be used for modeling and projecting costs for future projects.

The most important objective of a new research program, then, is to demonstrate the value of the program to the company bottom line.



Software Engineering Measurement
Software Engineering Measurement
ISBN: 0849315034
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 139

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