System Dynamics Models of Software Evolution Processes

The work presented here forms part of a wide-ranging study of the role and impact of feedback in software evolution. The objectives of this investigation are as follows [8]: • provide objective evidence that feedback phenomena and the consequent system dynamics have substantial impact in the software process; • model global process feedback structures and mechanisms and identify their properties; • demonstrate that feedback phenomena can be exploited in both managing and improving industrial processes; and • develop foundations for a theory of software process and software evolution. The investigation includes both statistical analysis of data from software processes [10], and the building of System Dynamics (SD) [4, 5] models of those processes. It seeks t