The Ramp-Up Problem in Software Projects: A Case Study of How Software Immigrants Naturalize

The Ramp-Up Problem in Software Projects: A Case Study of How Software Immigrants Naturalize (1998)

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by Susan Elliott Sim , Susan Elliott , Sim Richard , C. Holt

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@MISC{Sim98theramp-up,
    author = {Susan Elliott Sim and Susan Elliott and Sim Richard and C. Holt},
    title = {The Ramp-Up Problem in Software Projects: A Case Study of How Software Immigrants Naturalize},
    year = {1998}
}

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Abstract

Joining a software development team is like moving to a new country to start employment; the immigrant has a lot to learn about the job, the local customs, and sometimes a new language. In an exploratory case study, we interviewed four software immigrants, in order to characterize their naturalization process. Seven patterns in four major categories were found. In this paper, these patterns are substantiated, and their implications discussed. The lessons learned from this study can be applied equally to improving the naturalization process, and to the formulation of further research questions. KEYWORDS empirical study, software maintenance, new employees, process 1. INTRODUCTION The title of Brooks' book, The Mythical Man-Month, neatly sums up a software team management concept: adding personnel to a project actually decreases productivity in the short term due to the start-up costs of new team members.[3, 4] Despite this difficulty, it is often necessary to add new employees to re...

Keyphrases

software immigrant naturalize case study ramp-up problem software project naturalization process new employee software immigrant exploratory case study new language software maintenance research question new team member new country start-up cost mythical man-month local custom keywords empirical study short term software team management concept software development team major category