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From: bnfb@cs.washington.edu (Bjorn Freeman-Benson)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Question about Allocating Resources: Engineering vs. Support
Message-ID: <14636@june.cs.washington.edu>
Date: 23 Jan 91 20:40:25 GMT
Reply-To: bnfb@june.cs.washington.edu (Bjorn Freeman-Benson)
Organization: University of Washington, Computer Science, Seattle
Lines: 18

--- Executive Summary ---
Given a staffing level of N for a development cycle, what
should the staffing level for maintainance and support be?

--- More Details ---
There are a number of books, etc., that give rules of thumb for
allocating engineering resources to developing applications: 40% for
design, 20% for coding, 40% for testing, etc.  However, as was
pointed out to me the other day, these rules are only for the
initial product development.  We have never seen rules
for staffing the continuing development and support activities after
a product has been released.  Does anyone have any numbers like: 30%
of original staff for support and 20% for maint. (for a total of 50%
of original staff)?

Thanks,
Bjorn N. Freeman-Benson			Jim Hawkins
bnfb@cs.washington.edu			jim_hawkins%m2@hp4700.desk.hp.com