A Retrospective Quantitative Correlational Study of Logging Task Time and Completing Project Cycle

Software development teams have difficulties meeting project schedules. Studies conducted in both 2008 and 2015 show over 68% of software projects failed or had trouble. Multiple studies have rated the Team Software Process (TSP) methodology to be a best practice that is beneficial in helping teams to deliver their work on schedule. A 2018 study reported that while most Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) teams using TSP performed better than the industry average, some teams were still unable to meet their schedules. Multiple studies have reported that the lack of analytical support of TSP data is preventing teams from realizing the full benefits of the methodology. This study was conducted to determine if the consistency with which NAVAIR TSP teams log their task time (i.e., log task time in 'real time' or backfill the time-log later) has any relationship to the teams' ability to complete their projects on schedule and to generate coaching guidelines to direct teams to pursue best practices. This research used a retrospective quantitative correlational design to analyze project cycle data from NAVAIR teams using TSP from 2005--2017. The study analyzed the project cycle data by performing ANCOVA to remove the within-group variance of SPI from teams incorrectly estimating the task labor and incorrectly estimating the labor they can commit to the project (e.g., the number of task hours a week a team plans to log on the project). This research did not find a statistically significant correlation between time-log backfilling and completing a project cycle on schedule, but the study did quantify the importance of other TSP metrics (e.g., Cost Performance Indicator (CPI), Direct Time Ratio) as important factors that contribute to a team completing a project cycle on schedule. This study generated coaching guidelines to assess teams concerning issues with plans that have not yet fully impacted their ability to complete their project cycles on schedule.