Software Project Size
June 25, 2016
Software Project Size is of great importance since it determines the level of management controls and the types of tools and technologies required for a software project. Accordingly, software projects are classified into 6 major categories as follows (this basic yard stick is used in all of the diversified software development and project management methodologies) –
| Project Type | No. developers | Project Duration | Product Size (LOC) | Use case |
| Trivial – No use of formal methods of software development life cycle. In some cases the use of formal methods will improve quality | 1 | 1-4 weeks | <500 | Programs solving simple problems and are used for personal use by the programmers |
| Small – Standard formal Software Engineering methods are used for improving the development phase and product quality | 1 | 1-6 months | 1-2K | Programs solving numerical problems, Medium size Websites, student projects etc. |
| Medium Size – Formal Software Engineering methods are used for improving product quality, programmer productivity and customer satisfaction | 2-5 | 1-2 years | 5-50K | Assemblers, Compilers, Intranet systems, Complex Websites involving multi-vendor API interactions and multi-tenant models, Health Information Management Systems |
| Large | 5-20 | 2-3 years | 50-100K | Large compilers, Large multi-tenant information management systems, small time-sharing systems, database packages, real time control systems |
| Very Large | 100-1000 | 4-5 years | 1M | Real Time processing systems, telecommunication systems, Space shuttle/communication systems, Operating Systems, military command and control systems |
| Extra Large | 2000 – 5000 | 5-10 years | 1-10 M | Air traffic control, ballistic / acute military operation control, command control systems |
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