Alaska Simulator – A Journey to Planning

Abstract

The Alaska Simulator is an interactive software tool developed at the University of Innsbruck which allows people to test, analyze and improve their own planning behavior. In addition, the Alaska Simulator can be used for studying research questions in the context of software project management and other related fields. Thereby, the Alaska Simulator uses a journey as a metaphor for planning a software project. In the context of software project management the simulator can be used to compare traditional rather plan-driven project management methods with more agile approaches. Instead of pre-planning everything in advance agile approaches spread planning activities throughout the project and provide mechanisms for effectively dealing with uncertainty. The biggest challenge thereby is to find the right balance between pre-planning activities and keeping options open. The Alaska Simulator allows to explore how much planning is needed under different circumstances.