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Publications
  • 2014
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

Visualizing and Measuring Software Portfolio Architectures: A Flexibility Analysis

By: Robert Lagerstrom, Carliss Y. Baldwin, Alan MacCormack and David Dreyfus
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:32
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Abstract

In this paper, we test a method for visualizing and measuring software portfolio architectures and use our measures to predict the costs of architectural change. Our data is drawn from a biopharmaceutical company, comprising 407 architectural components with 1,157 dependencies between them. We show that the architecture of this system can be classified as a "core-periphery" system, meaning it contains a single large dominant cluster of interconnected components (the "Core") representing 32% of the system. We find that the classification of software applications within this architecture, as being either Core or Peripheral, is a significant predictor of the costs of architectural change. Using OLS regression models, we show that this measure has greater predictive power than prior measures of coupling used in the literature.

Keywords

Design Structure Matrices; Software Architecture; Flexibility; Software Application Portfolio; Complexity; Applications and Software; Forecasting and Prediction

Citation

Lagerstrom, Robert, Carliss Y. Baldwin, Alan MacCormack, and David Dreyfus. "Visualizing and Measuring Software Portfolio Architectures: A Flexibility Analysis." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 14-083, March 2014.
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About The Authors

Carliss Y. Baldwin

→More Publications

Alan D. MacCormack

Technology and Operations Management
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More from the Authors

    • 2021
    • Faculty Research

    Computer-Implemented Methods and Systems for Measuring, Estimating, and Managing Economic Outcomes and Technical Debt in Software Systems and Projects: US Patent 11,126,427 B2

    By: Daniel J. Sturtevant, Carliss Baldwin, Alan MacCormack, Sunny Ahn and Sean Gilliland
    • August 2021
    • Faculty Research

    A Note on Design Thinking

    By: Alan MacCormack, Caroline M. Elkins, Allison H. Mnookin, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Joyce J. Kim
    • November 2020
    • Journal of Product Innovation Management

    Disrupting the Disruptors or Enhancing Them? How Blockchain Re‐Shapes Two‐Sided Platforms

    By: Daniel Trabucchi, Antonella Moretto, Tommaso Buganza and Alan MacCormack
More from the Authors
  • Computer-Implemented Methods and Systems for Measuring, Estimating, and Managing Economic Outcomes and Technical Debt in Software Systems and Projects: US Patent 11,126,427 B2 By: Daniel J. Sturtevant, Carliss Baldwin, Alan MacCormack, Sunny Ahn and Sean Gilliland
  • A Note on Design Thinking By: Alan MacCormack, Caroline M. Elkins, Allison H. Mnookin, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Joyce J. Kim
  • Disrupting the Disruptors or Enhancing Them? How Blockchain Re‐Shapes Two‐Sided Platforms By: Daniel Trabucchi, Antonella Moretto, Tommaso Buganza and Alan MacCormack
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