Forecasting and Simulating Software Development Projects: Effective Modeling of Kanban & Scrum Projects using Monte-carlo Simulation - Softcover

Magennis, Troy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1466454830 ISBN 13: 9781466454835

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2011

Synopsis

Forecasting and Simulating Software Development Projects explains how to effectively model Kanban and Scrum projects to get accurate forecasts of cost, delivery dates and staff requirements.

Modeling using Monte-carlo simulation allows rapid what-if analysis to find options that minimize cost and delivery time, whilst maximizing revenue. Simulation lets you hit target delivery dates, and shows the impact of hiring (or losing) staff with certain skillsets, taking software project leadership to a new level of maturity.

Target audience and key takeaways -

Project Managers: Understand modeling and forecast projects, and how to simulate those models to answer questions regarding delivery dates, cost, and staffing needs.

Development Managers and Team Leads: Understand how to reduce the amount of estimation required for cost and date forecasts, and determining what development events cause the most impact.

Executive Leadership: Understand how multiple teams can co-ordinate their forecasts in a methodical way, and provide a consistent approach to risk management and decision making.

Venture Capital Investors: Understand how to obtain reliable cost and date forecasts for potential investments and how to compare different software project investment portfolios.

Topics include -

Simulating Scrum and Kanban project methodologies

Forecasting the probability of hitting delivery date & costs

Hiring the right team size and skill mix

Creating visual animations and videos to sell solutions to others

Finding what model inputs are critical to delivery date

Effective (and minimal) story estimation and grouping strategies

Capturing the project deliverables and story backlog

Modeling development events: defects, added scope and blocking events

Reverse engineering real-world data to improve model accuracy

About this title

About the Author

Troy is an experienced executive who has been involved in many leading software organizations over 20 years. Most recently, Troy founded Focused Objective to build tools and training for simulating and forecasting software development projects, including the Monte-carlo techniques described in this book.

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1466454830
• ISBN 13: 9781466454835
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 166