Simulation of a Fast-track Software Project
For my project work in "Organization Design for Projects and Companies" (CEE 242), I teamed with Tulika Majumdar, to simulate a software project of a startup company using SimVision - a path-breaking tool developed by Prof. Ray Levitt to model the physics of Project Work. We had rather interesting results. Initial reports suggested that the organization wasn't going to finish in the budgeted timeframe - 6 months. A year and a half was a more realistic estimate.
The simulation helped us study changes in the organization design. We added 5 more developers to an existing 5-person co-ordinating team, and the project now showed chances of finishing within 6 months. It turns out that it is too expensive to hire 10 people in the US, so the company talked of outsourcing. We simulated this too, and found that this would push the schedule back by more than a year, thus proving counter-productive.
I am frankly quite fascinated with this technology, and await to study the results of actions taken by the company as the project unfolds. If this sounds interesting to you, I'd highly recommend Prof. Levitt's course (Autumn Quarter).
The simulation helped us study changes in the organization design. We added 5 more developers to an existing 5-person co-ordinating team, and the project now showed chances of finishing within 6 months. It turns out that it is too expensive to hire 10 people in the US, so the company talked of outsourcing. We simulated this too, and found that this would push the schedule back by more than a year, thus proving counter-productive.
I am frankly quite fascinated with this technology, and await to study the results of actions taken by the company as the project unfolds. If this sounds interesting to you, I'd highly recommend Prof. Levitt's course (Autumn Quarter).
