Recent Advances in Software Effort Estimation using Machine Learning
This is an incremental review article for software companies seeking to improve project planning accuracy.
This paper reviews recent machine learning approaches for software effort estimation across both non-agile and agile methodologies, analyzing benefits like modeling programming patterns and misestimation patterns by individual engineers.
An increasing number of software companies have already realized the importance of storing project-related data as valuable sources of information for training prediction models. Such kind of modeling opens the door for the implementation of tailored strategies to increase the accuracy in effort estimation of whole teams of engineers. In this article we review the most recent machine learning approaches used to estimate software development efforts for both, non-agile and agile methodologies. We analyze the benefits of adopting an agile methodology in terms of effort estimation possibilities, such as the modeling of programming patterns and misestimation patterns by individual engineers. We conclude with an analysis of current and future trends, regarding software effort estimation through data-driven predictive models.