People and organizations in software production: a review of the literature

Abstract

The growing demand for software requires increasingly productive people and organizations, yet little is known about how best to select, train, organize, and manage people and organizations to produce software. Boehm's COCOMO software costing model has shown that people and organizations can have a dramatic effect on productivity and costs. Issues of project organization, education and training, professional development, career paths, personnel selection, evaluation, group dynamics, and motivation play a significant part in software productivity. As this review of 130 references to the recent research literature indicates, work is being done on these issues, however, some gaps need to be filled and methods developed to insure their effective use.