Ricardo Valerdi

Qualifying Exam Report A Framework for Intelligent Assessment and Resolution of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Product Incompatibilities

Valerdi : Heuristics for Systems Engineering Cost Estimation

—Engineering cannot wait until all phenomena are explained. Engineers may work effectively, often for centuries, with heuristics. This paper provides thirty one heuristics that have been inspired by the development and application of a systems engineering cost estimation model. The objective of this paper is to present such heuristics in a simple manner so that they can benefit systems engineer...

Achievements and Challenges in Software Resource Estimation

This paper summarizes major achievements and challenges of software resource estimation over the last forty years. We address critical issues that enabled major achievements such as the development of good model forms, criteria for evaluating models, methods for integrating expert judgment and statistical data analysis, and processes for developing new models that cover new software development...

Considerations for Successful Reuse in Systems Engineering

Reuse is the idea of leveraging previously developed capabilities into a new project for the purposes of improving project characteristics (i.e. cost, schedule, risk). While reuse is a fairly well-known concept in domains such as software and product development, almost no research has been conducted on reuse being applied to the systems engineering domain. This investigation examines the poten...

Cultural Barriers to the Adoption of Systems Engineering Research

An extensive amount of time and money is spent on developing methodologies and tools to improve the systems engineering process but much less is spent on addressing the organizational factors that can facilitate or hinder their adoption. This is partially due to engineering approach to problem solving which is technology centric. What is needed is an organization centric approach that complemen...