Dissertation Abstract

Virtual teams are fast becoming the norm in organizations and strategies are needed to deal with the new challenges that they create. System Dynamics is a computer based approach for modeling complex physical and social systems and experimenting with the models to design policies for improved performance. Software Project Dynamics is a field of research that uses system dynamics simulation to explore software engineering issues. The objective of this research effort was to enhance systematically the understanding of virtual software engineering by using the system dynamics methodology and existing software project dynamic models. To accomplish the research objective, the following tasks were accomplished:

First, an extensive literature review was done to gain insight into virtual software project teams. Second, a Software Project Dynamics model was reproduced using iThink software. Third, the model was used as an experimentation vehicle to study the dynamic implications of virtual teams.

This paper suggests that system dynamics is a viable tool in the exploration of virtual software engineering challenges. The scope of the research was limited to the human resource management sector of an existing software project dynamics model. A new field of research is recommended to deal with additional challenges of virtual software project teams using system dynamics with the proposed name: Virtual Software Project Dynamics.