Student Originated Software 1997-1998 Fall Quarter
		A Software Engineering Course at The Evergreen State College

Case Study Presentation - September 29, 1997 Software Development for Dummies Just Follow These Four Simple Steps! Come up with a Great Idea Design T-Shirts, Coffee Mugs, and Web Page Start taking orders for the software Produce the Software Why (and What) is Systematic Software Development? (Also known as software engineering...)    Doesn’t depend on genius or good luck     “We could make a barn door fly!”    Planned and orderly (in theory!)    More reliable and replicable    Takes advantages of “Best Practices”    Reliability is critical - airplane, cancer treatment    High costs - time and money    Team-oriented    Phased approach - task decomposition    Coordination and communication formalized     Phases of Software Development (1)    Vanilla Version    Figure out if you’re going to do it    Figure out what you’re going to do    Figure out how you’re going to do it    Do it!    Check if it was done right    Fix it if it isn’t right, then check again    Help people use it    Make it better     Phases of Software Development (2)    Cool Jargon and Graphics    Requirements Analysis    Conceptual Analysis and Preliminary Design    Design -- User Interface, System, Detailed    Implementation    Maintenance    Coordination    Planning    Budgeting    Documenting    Meeting and Reporting    Support     Several Types of Software    Diverse Purposes, Resources, and Approaches*    Mission Critical    Shrink-Wrapped    Customer Spec’d    Just get the #$@!!*&#@!*!! job done!    Other    Homebrew, research, GNU & GNU-like     Conclusions    Main Points to Take Home    There’s more to software production than writing software    Software production is complicated and costly    Software production is a team process    Communication, cooperation, and coordination are critical    It pays to be systematic (but everybody does it differently..)    Conducting the Feasibility Study    Answers the Question, “Should we do it?”    Viewed from several perspectives    Accomplished through several means    Demonstrated by written evidence -- The Feasibility Study    Perspectives    Economic Feasibility     Compare development costs versus expected returns    Technical Feasibility     Study functions, performance, and constraints, then decide    Legal Feasibility     Infringement, violation, liability?    Alternatives     How else could it be done?     The Feasibility Study    First in a Long Chain of Documents    Contents (from Pressman)     Introduction     Management Survey and Recommendations     Alternatives     System Description     Cost-Benefit Analysis     Evaluation of Technical Risk     Legal Ramifications     Other Project Specific Topics     Software Development Teams    Working Within and Without     Some Relevant “C”Words    What is..    Communication?    Collaboration?    Coordination?    Cooperation?    Community?     The “C”Words: My Definitions    Your actual meaning may vary...    Communication     Meaningful exchange of information    Collaboration     Working together -- usually as peers -- on some task    Coordination     “Harmonious functioning”    Cooperation     Willing and mutual support    Community     A group of people linked together with common bonds     “Types”of People    Inexact, dangerous, yet useful labels    Extrovert vs. Introvert (MB)    Sensation vs. Intuitive (MB)    Risk Tasking vs. Risk Averse    Linear vs. Gestalt    Low vs. High Stimuli Threshholds    “Night person” vs. “Day person”    Low vs. High authority recognition    Planning vs. Spontaneous    Low vs. High ambiguity toleration     Dealing outside the Team    Who are the Players?    Within the Organization     Management     Marketing     Others    Outside the Organization     Customer     The community     The Press     Others  Team Exercise    Working through a scenario...    Divide into teams    Get scenario    Discuss situation    Identify options    Make decisions    Report back to class    Coordination - General Ideas    “Working Together Harmoniously”    Operating under constraints    Working with multiple players    Facing unknowns and ambiguity    Project complexity increases coordination demands    Coordination is both formal and adhoc  Elements of Coordination    Deployment of Resources over Time    Meetings    Schedule    Description of Tasks    Description of Deliverables    Roles and Responsibilities    Budget  How Can We Estimate?    Collect Historical Data    Project Name    Description of major functions (loc, complexity [1-10], effort in person- months, development time, number of people)    Project Cost    Totals for Major Functions    Documentation (number of pages)    Total Staff    Tools used    Maintenance Record to date  Scheduling Methods    Reveal Important Data    Critical Path    Establish most likely duration    Calculate boundary times     Earliest time to begin     Latest time to begin     Earliest finish     Latest finish     Total float   Requirements    What’s it supposed to do??    Definition: “Anything that drives the design”    Used for understanding, communicating, and testing    Tells what but not how    A consensus document     What and how should it do its representing?     What process should be used?     Requirements    Some common deficiencies    Vagueness    Contradictions    Omissions    Guidelines or constraints confused with functional req’ts    Unclear or badly written    Insufficient user involvement or market research    Not testable    Not traceable back to customer’s needs