Writing Code

One Week

Writing

Basic Programming Skills

You are asked to clean up someone else's code.

N/A

Memo

One Week

Writing

Basic Programming Skill

Memo to boss

N/A

Debugging/Testing

One Week

Writing

Basic Programming Skills

Bug Reports are frequently given by testers, this is practice for that type of work.

Formal presentation/formal documentation; informal speaking (Q/A)

One Week

reading, writing, speaking, teaming, listening

Product Demonstration, Requirements, Design Expression, presentation of Implementation details, Continuous Quality Assurance (Testing)

Managers will often review design and code of development team or individual. If team is using an iterative or agile process, this inspection will most likely focus on the details of the requirements, design, implementation & testing of the most recent iteration. For example, developers may be asked to demonstrate a crucial component of their system that is interesting or complex in terms of algorithms and/or code segments.

4-6

Formal short elevator speech-type presentation; informal speaking (tradeshow/demonstration); poster creation

Several Weeks

Speaking, teaming, listening, writing

Deliver audience-sensitive oral project progress reports that include introductions & conclusions, problem descriptions, requirements specs, design descriptions, test plans/results and task plans.

Managers often ask employees to explain a technical project to audience members (e.g., customers, potential customers, end users) with various levels of technical expertise. This serves as an opportunity for managers to sell products and their company.

Preparing this type of presentation also provides the developing team a different perspective on both the project’s broad spectrum and its details.

4-6

Formal documentation; writing as a team

One Week

Reading, writing, speaking, teaming, listening

Requirements, Design Creation, Implementation, Testing, Project Management

Managers and customers often require employees to provide requirements and design specifications as well as reports on implementation details and testing. These reports are used to clarify project definition and scope and to track progress.

4-6

Informal Writing

Semester Long

Informal Writing

Project Management, Resource Management

One is working for a software development company as a software developer. Managers ask employees to track the amount of time spent on various components of a software development/research project. Managers will more easily track/analyze technical issues or solutions discovered during a project.

Helps managers to determine individual accountability & appropriate project scope; gives employee experience with estimating time to complete tasks.

N/A

Oral presentation

Short Activity

Writing
Speaking
Teaming
Listening

Requirements

In this assignment your team will make an oral presentation, summarizing the results of the Inception Phase, to your client, co-workers, and supervisor. You should summarize the content of the artifacts produced in the Inception Phase (Vision, Use Case Model, Glossary, and Supplementary Specification). You should create visual aids (such as a PowerPoint deck, handouts, etc) to supplement your presentation.

The ability to present information orally to a variety of audiences is a very important skill to learn and practice. It probably goes without saying that you will be called upon in your internships and career to present information orally, but you will probably also want to make such presentations to social groups and a variety of other organizations with which you become a member.

An oral presentation is a prepared, purposeful presentation designed to increase knowledge, foster understanding, or promote change in the listeners’ attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors. In our case we want to foster understanding within your team, your supervisor, and the client that we have a good understanding of the project’s overall goals and scope.

4-6

Report
Code

Two Weeks

Writing
Teaming
Listening

Requirements

The most important step in the software development process is to understand the problem to be solved. The “problem” is typically a set of “needs” of the client related to their business or organization. If you come up with a great solution that does not meet the needs of the client, your project will not be a success!

The Vision document is one of the early documents that we create in our software development methodology. It’s our opportunity to work with the client to establish a common vision and basic scope for the project. We can explore the client’s vision for the project, its feasibility within the time and resources that we have, make a rough estimate of cost and time complete the project, and decide whether or not we can move ahead with the project. This is an essential step in any project. Note that we are not trying to completely define the client’s needs (requirements) or the solution. This will evolve as we move forward with the project.

The Supplemental Specification and the Glossary support the Vision. The focus of the vision is primarily on functional requirements (the features seen by the user). The Supplemental Specification captures the “URPS+” non-functional requirements: Usability, Reliability, Performance, Supportability and any others (such as legal issues). The Glossary defines critical terminology, and can sometimes document the format of data.

This is a team assignment to work with the client to create a common vision and scope for the class project, and to create the initial product backlog. This will help assure that your project is a success and meets the needs of the client. Note that these are “living documents” and will evolve as the project progresses.

Please note that the audience for the Vision, Supplemental Specification and Glossary includes the software engineers on your team and the client. This means that these documents should be written so that the client can easily understand them (don’t overuse technical jargon or acronyms, for example).

4-6

Report

Less than a week

Writing

Deployment

The goal of this assignment is to reflect on the overall success of our software project management approach, suggest possible improvements for future classes, and to reflect on the service-learning component of the course. This is sometimes called the project post-mortem. The goal is to learn from the development experience in order to improve the software development process for future projects. Your report will be used by your supervisor to determine what, if any, further work, or enhancements, might be required for your final product.

N/A