HOW BEHAVIORAL BIASES CAN HARM PROJECT MANAGEMENT OF SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

For decades, the activity of software project management has been perceived by its flaws in costs, timelines, and results. This research work was conceived toward the objective of investigating the role of behavioral biases in this negative tendency. It takes advantage of the method of integrative review of literature to identify 16 distinct behavioral biases with some influence on project management for technology. They are the overconfidence bias; hindsight bias; inappropriate comparisons; sunk-cost fallacy; planning fallacy; parkinson’s law; preference for intuition; misinterpretation of data; gambler’s fallacy; illusion of control; social loafing; mere exposure effect; recency; reliance on profound events; halo effect; and conservatism bias. The description of each one of those psychological effects (or political ones) with respective suggestions for mitigating negative effects, states prominence to the subject when considering the evolution of software project management.