The software rush hour (software engineering)

The author states that, in his experience, software engineering most resembles a dynamically overloaded queue or rush-hour traffic jam. A change measurement model that is unique because it puts the development process in the context of the larger business enterprise and partitions work into dynamic tangible activities, separating work demand from work services, is proposed. Because the change-management model is based on the concept of a dynamically overloaded queue, existing mathematical approximations can be used to estimate gross process behavior. Specifically, the author proposes to use fluid-approximation models to mathematically simulate the software process as a dynamically overloaded queue, applying estimation techniques that are normally used to analyze rush-hour traffic delays.<>