Journal "Software Engineering"
a journal on theoretical and applied science and technology
ISSN 2220-3397

Issue N2 2025 year

DOI: 10.17587/prin.16.92-99
Team Formation in Software Projects: Multi-criteria Pareto Optimization
S. M. Beketov, Postgraduate Student, Analyst, salbek.beketov@spbpu.com, M. V. Dergachev, Student, dergachev_mv@edu.spbstu.ru, A. M. Gintciak, Associate Professor, Head of Lab, aleksei.gintciak@spbpu.com, S. G. Redko, Professor, Director, redko_sg@spbstu.ru, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Saint Petersburg, 195251, Russian Federation
Corresponding author: Salbek M. Beketov, Postgraduate Student, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Saint Petersburg, 195251, Russian Federation E-mail: salbek.beketov@spbpu.com
Received on November 20, 2024
Accepted on December 10, 2024

The research is dedicated to the advancement of methodological and instrumental foundations for team formation optimization in software projects, particularly in light of the increasing complexity and scale of such projects. The issue can be attributed to the intrinsic complexity of establishing and resolving the challenge of assembling the most effective project team. This research presents a model for the multi-criteria optimization of team composition in software pro­jects. The objective is to provide the management entity with a set of Pareto-optimal project team compositions for the implementation of a specific project. The study reviews existing methods of team formation and develops an algorithm and a mathematical multi-criteria model for optimizing the composition of a project team. The practical application of the model is illustrated by a case study that demonstrates the Pareto-optimal frontier of project team compositions in the time-labor plane. The research aims to enhance the predictability and manageability of software projects by employing a scenario-based approach during the team-building phase of the project. This study is relevant to stakeholders involved in software project management, including project managers, human resource professionals, and company management in general, seeking to implement methods to optimize team composition in project delivery.

Keywords: multi-criteria optimization, Pareto optimization, project team, software project, team composition formation, optimization algorithm, mathematical model, network diagram
pp. 92—99
For citation:
Beketov S. M., Dergachev M. V., Gintciak A. M., Redko S. G. Team Formation in Software Projects: Multi-criteria Pareto Optimization, Programmnaya Ingeneria, 2025, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 92—99. DOI: 10.17587/prin.16.92-99.
The research is funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (contract No. 075-03-2024-004 dated 17.01.2024).
References:
  1. Sablis A., Smite D., Moe N. Team-external coordination in large-scale software development projects, Journal of Software: Evolution and Process, 2021, vol. 33, no. 3, article e2297. DOI: 10.1002/smr.2297.
  2. Tam C., da Costa Moura E. J., Oliveira T., Varajao J. The factors influencing the success of on-going agile software development projects, International Journal of Project Management, 2020, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 165—176. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2020.02.001.
  3. Imam H., Zaheer M. K. Shared leadership and project success: The roles of knowledge sharing, cohesion and trust in the team, International Journal of Project Management, 2021, vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 463—473. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2021.02.006.
  4. Morcov S., Pintelon L., Kusters R. J. Definitions, characteristics and measures of IT project complexity-a systematic literature review, International journal of information systems and project management, 2020, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 5—21. DOI: 10.12821/ijispm080201.
  5. Anastasiu L., Gavri§ O., Maier D. Is human capital ready for change? A strategic approach adapting Porter's five forces to human resources, Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, no. 6, article 2300.DOI: 10.3390/su12062300.
  6. Morrison-Smith S., Ruiz J. Challenges and barriers in virtual teams: a literature review, SN Applied Sciences, 2020, vol. 2, no. 6, article 1096. DOI: 10.1007/s42452-020-2801-5.
  7. Shaukat M. B., Latif K. F., Sajjad A., Eweje G. Revisiting the relationship between sustainable project management and project success: The moderating role of stakeholder engagement and team building, Sustainable Development, 2022, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 58—75. DOI: 10.1002/sd.2228.
  8. Strode D., Dingseyr T., Lindsjorn Y. A teamwork effectiveness model for agile software development, Empirical Software Engineering, 2022, vol. 27, no. 2, article 56. DOI: 10.1007/s10664-021-10115-0.
  9. Buengeler C., Situmeang F. B., van Eerde W., Wijnberg N. M. Fluidity in project management teams across projects, International Journal of Project Management, 2021, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 282—294. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2020.12.001.
  10. Kim S., Chang S., Castro-Lacouture D. Dynamic modeling for analyzing impacts of skilled labor shortage on construction project management, Journal of Management in Engineering, 2020, vol. 36, no. 1, article 04019035. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000720.
  11. Alvarenga J. C., Branco R. R., Guedes A. L. A. et al. The project manager core competencies to project success, International journal of managing projects in Business, 2020, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 277—292. DOI: 10.1108/IJMPB-12-2018-0274.
  12. Rosen C. Guide to Software Systems Development. Connecting Novel Theory and Current Practice, Cham: Springer International Publishing AG, 2020. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-39730-2.
  13. Kuutila M., Mantyla M., Farooq U., Claes M. Time pressure in software engineering: A systematic review, Information and Software Technology, 2020, vol. 121, article 106257. DOI: 10.1016/j.infsof.2020.106257.
  14. Beketov S. M., Pospelov K. N., Redko S. G. A human capital simulation model in innovation projects, Control Sciences, 2024, no. 3, pp. 16—25. DOI: 10.25728/cs.2024.3.2.
  15. Mazelis L., Lavrenyuk K., Krasko A. Fuzzy approach for the formation of an optimal portfolio of strategic projects to achieve regional development targets in the digital economy, International Journal of Technology, 2020, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 1136—1147.DOI: 10.14716/ijtech.v11i6.4433.
  16. Pospelov K. N., Burlutskaya Z. V., Gintciak A. M., Troshchenko K. D. Multiparametric Optimization of Complex System Management Scenarios Based on Simulation Models, International Journal of Technology, 2023, vol. 14, no. 8, pp. 1748—1758. DOI: 10.14716/ijtech.v14i8.6832.
  17. Mencarelli L., Chen Q., Pagot A., Grossmann I. E. A review on superstructure optimization approaches in process system engineering, Computers & Chemical Engineering, 2020, vol. 136, article 106808. DOI: 10.1016/j.compchemeng.2020.106808.
  18. Pospelov K. N., Vatamaniuk I. V., Lundaeva K. A., Gintciak A. M. Heuristic Approach to Planning Complex Multi-Stage Production Systems, International Journal of Technology, 2023, vol. 14, no. 8, pp. 1790—1799. DOI: 10.14716/ijtech.v14i8.6833.
  19. Skrinjaric B. Competence-based approaches in organizational and individual context, Humanities and social sciences communications, 2022, vol. 9, no. 1, article 28. DOI: 10.1057/s41599-022-01047-1.
  20. Homan A. C., Giindemir S., Buengeler C., van Kleef G. A. Leading diversity: Towards a theory of functional leadership in diverse teams, Journal of Applied Psychology, 2020, vol. 105, no. 10, article 1101. DOI: 10.1037/apl0000482.
  21. Paais M., Pattiruhu J. R. Effect of motivation, leadership, and organizational culture on satisfaction and employee performance, The journal of asian finance, economics and business, 2020,vol. 7, no. 8, pp. 577—588. DOI: 10.13106/jafeb.2020.vol7.no8.577.
  22. Nauman S., Bhatti S. H., Imam H., Khan M. S. How servant leadership drives project team performance through collab­orative culture and knowledge sharing, Project Management Journal, 2022, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 17—32. DOI: 10.1177/87569728211037777.
  23. Yang X., Wang P., Fang W. Team Formation with Relationship Strength Based on Meta Path in Heterogeneous Network, 2018 IEEE 9th International Conference on Software Engineering and Service Science (ICSESS), 2020, pp. 797—801. DOI: 10.1109/ ICSESS.2018.8663775.
  24. Paredes-Valverde M. A., del Pilar Salas-Zarate M., Colomo-Palacios R. et al. An ontology-based approach with which to assign human resources to software projects, Science of Computer Programming, 2018, vol. 156, pp. 90—103. DOI: 10.1016/j. scico.2018.01.003.
  25. Garshasbi S., Mohammadi Y., Graf S. et al. Optimal learning group formation: A multi-objective heuristic search strategy for enhancing inter-group homogeneity and intra-group heterogeneity, Expert systems with applications, 2019, vol. 118, pp. 506—521. DOI: 10.1016/j.eswa.2018.10.034.
  26. Miranda P. B., Mello R. F., Nascimento A. C. A multiobjective optimization approach for the group formation problem, Expert Systems with Applications, 2020, vol. 162, article 113828. DOI: 10.1016/j.eswa.2020.113828.
  27. Kononenko I., Sushko H. Mathematical model of software development project team composition optimization with fuzzy initial data, Radioelectronic and computer systems, 2021, no. 3, pp. 149—159. DOI: 10.32620/reks.2021.3.12.
  28. Cunha F., Rique T., Perkusich M. et al. A data-driven framework to support team formation in software projects, Anais do II Workshop Brasileiro de Engenharia de Software Inteligente, 2022, pp. 7—12. DOI: 10.5753/ise.2022.227029.
  29. Hamidi Rad R., Fani H., Bagheri E. et al. A variational neural architecture for skill-based team formation, ACM Transactions on Information Systems, 2023, vol. 42, no. 1, article 7. DOI: 10.1145/3589762.
  30. Muniz M., Flamand T. A column generation approach for the team formation problem, Computers & Operations Research, 2024, vol. 161, article 106406. DOI: 10.1016/j.cor.2023.106406.
  31. Xing Z., Zhang Z., Guo J. et al. Rail train operation energy-saving optimization based on improved brute-force search, Applied Energy, 2023, vol. 330, article 120345. DOI: 10.1016/j.apen-ergy.2022.120345.
  32. Guo K., Zhang L. Multi-objective optimization for improved project management: Current status and future directions, Automation in Construction, 2022, vol. 139, article 104256. DOI: 10.1016/j. autcon.2022.104256.
  33. Li M., Chen T., Yao X. How to evaluate solutions in Pareto-based search-based software engineering: A critical review and methodological guidance, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 2020, vol. 48, no. 5, pp. 1771—1799. DOI: 10.1109/ TSE.2020.3036108.
  34. Brooks F. C. The Mythical Man-Month, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1975, 195 p.
  35. Garro-Abarca V., Palos-Sanchez P., Aguayo-Camacho M. Virtual teams in times of pandemic: Factors that influence performance, Frontiers in psychology, 2021, vol. 12, article 624637. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.624637.
  36. Cynthia O. U. Implementation of Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and Critical Path Method (CPM): A Comparative Study, International Journal of Industrial and Opera­tions Research, 2020, vol. 3, no. 1, article 004. DOI: 10.35840/2633­8947/6504.