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Effort modeling and programmer participation in open source software projects

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  • Koch, Stefan

Abstract

This paper develops models for programmer participation and effort estimation in open source software projects and employs the results to assess the efficiency of open source software creation. Successful development of such models will be important for decision makers of various kinds. We propose hypotheses based on a prior case study on manpower function and effort modeling. A large data set retrieved from a project repository is used to test these hypotheses. The main results are that if Norden-Rayleigh-based approaches are used, they need to be complemented in order to account for the addition of new features during a product life cycle, and that programmer-participation based effort models result in distinctly lower estimations of effort than those based on output metrics, such as lines of code.

Suggested Citation

  • Koch, Stefan, 2008. "Effort modeling and programmer participation in open source software projects," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 345-355, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:iepoli:v:20:y:2008:i:4:p:345-355
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hertel, Guido & Niedner, Sven & Herrmann, Stefanie, 2003. "Motivation of software developers in Open Source projects: an Internet-based survey of contributors to the Linux kernel," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1159-1177, July.
    2. von Krogh, Georg & Spaeth, Sebastian & Lakhani, Karim R., 2003. "Community, joining, and specialization in open source software innovation: a case study," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1217-1241, July.
    3. Paul A. David & Francesco Rullani, 2008. "Dynamics of innovation in an “open source” collaboration environment: lurking, laboring, and launching FLOSS projects on SourceForge," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 17(4), pages 647-710, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Rufus Pollock, 2008. "Innovation, Imitation and Open Source," EERI Research Paper Series EERI_RP_2008_20, Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels.
    2. Kevin Crowston & Nicolas Jullien & Felipe Ortega, 2013. "Is Wikipedia Inefficient? Modelling Effort and Participation in Wikipedia," Post-Print hal-00947731, HAL.

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