Measuring the effects of requirements volatility on software development projects

Requirements volatility is a common software project risk that can have severe consequences including cost and schedule overruns and, at times, cancelled projects. As part of this research, a system dynamics simulation model was designed and developed to help project managers comprehend the effects of requirements volatility. This system dynamics simulation model illustrates researched effects of requirements volatility and includes requirements engineering extensions to a base software project management model. The model stochastically implements requirements volatility risk related software factors. The data for these factors were derived from a survey that included over 300 software project managers.; The empirical survey, supporting the research, was performed for the purpose of understanding the effects of requirements volatility in software development projects. Significant analysis was performed with the survey data. Survey findings show the primary and secondary impacts of requirements volatility on multiple project development factors. In addition, key software project factors were studied for their relationship with requirements volatility. These results can be used by software development managers to proactively address and attempt to mitigate the risk of requirements volatility.; This study extends and contributes to the previous research in software process simulation, requirements engineering, and requirements volatility. The effects of a common and potentially severe risk, requirements volatility, were analyzed. The statistical data from the analysis was used to support the development of a systems dynamics simulation model designed to illustrate the stochastic effects of requirements volatility. The simulation model also illustrates a requirements engineering process that is supported by results from the survey. Additional analysis of the survey data also provides information on requirements engineering and other process factors that can be used by project managers to better manage the risk of requirements volatility.