The impact of goals on software project management: An experimental investigation

Over the last three decades, a significant stream of research in organizati onal behavior has established the importance of goals in regulating human b ehavior. The precise degree of association between goals and action, howeve r, remains an empirical question since people may, for example, make errors and/or lack the ability to attain their goals. This may be particularly tr ue in dynamically complex task environments, such as the management of soft ware development. To date, goal setting research in the software engineerin g field has emphasized the development of tools to identify, structure, and measure software development goals. In contrast, there has been little mic roempirical analysis of how goals affect managerial decision behavior. The current study attempts to address this research problem. It investigated th e impact of different project goals on software project planning and resour ce allocation decisions and, in turn, on project performance. The research question was explored through a role-playing project simulation game in whi ch subjects played the role of software project managers. Two multigoal str uctures were tested, one for cost/schedule and the other quality/schedule. The cost/schedule group opted for smaller cost adjustments and was more wil ling to extend the project completion time. The quality/schedule group, on the other hand, acquired a larger staff level in the later stages of the pr oject and allocated a higher percentage of the larger staff level to qualit y assurance. A cost/schedule goal led to lower cost, while a quality/schedu le goal led to higher quality. These findings suggest that given specific s oftware project goals, managers do make planning and resource allocation ch oices in such a way that will meet those goals. The implications of the res ults for project management practice and research are discussed.