CYCLE TIME IN PACKAGED SOFTWARE FIRMS

Reduction of cycle time (i.e., time to market) is a fundamental compet itive strategy in many industries. With the current proliferation of p ersonal computer (PC) technology, software developers face intense com petition. However, unlike their counterparts in other consumer goods m arkets, product development managers in the software industry appear t o be less concerned with (or even aware of) cycle time than they are w ith other competitive variables. To explore the role of cycle-time red uction in the process of developing software packages, Erran Carmel co nducted a study of 15 software package companies in the Washington-Bal timore metropolitan area. The survey results indicate that software pa ckage developers are generally unaware of cycle-time reduction as a ma nagement concept. Instead, software developers tend to focus on rapid development, with an emphasis on ''crunch'' periods of intense effort aimed at meeting a deadline. During these periods of peak activity, 87 % of the developers in core teams worked more than 56 hours per week a nd 47% worked more than 71 hours per week. In terms of the organizatio nal variables necessary for cycle-time reduction, all of the survey re spondents point to the importance of a small, cohesive, core developme nt team, similar to a cross-functional team. Members of the core team are entrepreneurial and share a common vision of the product's design, use, and long-term direction. As for the development variables associ ated with cycle-time reduction, the software companies in the survey t ypically do not use process models or risk analysis techniques. Simila rly, they devote scant resources to automated tools. For the majority of the firms in the survey, annual investment in automated software de velopment tools is less than $1,000 per developer. On the other hand, reuse (as embodied in object-oriented design and development) and incr emental innovation are important to all of the sample firms. Although quality assurance (QA) activities are not addressed in the innovation literature, QA is a significant cycle-time component in software devel opment. As demonstrated by the industry practice of releasing products with long lists of known defects, the software product category clear ly has quality problems. With the current boom in new users, pressure will grow for improved quality. To remain competitive, software develo pers need to determine how they can better integrate QA activities int o the development process while reducing cycle time.