Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China

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Abstract—In the software development process, effort distribution based on phase is an important but often a neglected aspect of software cost estimation. Insufficient phase effort distribution study is the primary reason of poor software effort estimation. This paper provides the results of an empirical study on phase effort distribution based on 2956 projects. The software development process is divided by month which is different from the phase defined in the Life Cycle. The final results show some consistency features in effort distribution pattern of project development methods and project types, which is useful to provide a good guidance of improving the accuracy of software cost estimation.

Index Terms—Software cost estimate, software effort distribution, development type, month effort allocation.

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Cite: Yinlong Liu and Yong Wang, "A Study on Software Development Month Effort," Journal of Software vol. 10, no. 7, pp. 798-804, 2015.