| Length: | 4-6 pages (+/- a factor of 2) recommended, but not absolutely required. Don't use very small or large fonts |
| Main Question: | If we were to do the project over again, how would we do it better, and how does that relate to the software engineering principles in the course? |
The Individual Project Critique shall consist of the following two elements (more emphasis on element 1, i.e., how your team's process could have been better):
1. Process Improvement (2/3 of emphasis)
Candidate topics include but are not limited
to:
We would also be interested in well-reasoned improvement suggestions to the MBASE guidelines.
2. Product Improvement (1/3 of emphasis)
Describe possible improvements in the various
components of your product: i.e., if you had to design the system again,
how would you do it better, knowing what you know now. The Product Improvement
section will not be considered in grading the final project, therefore,
do not hesitate to discuss some of the potential flaws of the current design:
the CSCI 577b teams will consider product improvement suggestions during the
rebaselining of the Life Cycle Architecture package.
The Product and Process improvement aspects of your Individual Critique may include the following:
1. Determine the project category or application sub-domain that fits
your project best. Then, using the list of developer-side complicators
and simplifiers for the category of your project as a guide, discuss
how the complicators and simplifiers manifested themselves in your product.
You can definitely introduce additional complicators/simplifiers (not listed
for your project category), which you think are relevant. In particular,
you can discuss:
- How you effectively used or could have used, the simplifiers/complicators
to manage your clients' expectations?
- How you effectively used or could have used, the simplifiers/complicators
to reconcile your clients' expectations with developer capabilities, schedule
constraints (11 weeks for the Engineering Phase, 12 weeks for the Production
Phase) or other contraints (ISD constraints--see below), before firmly
committing to a set of requirements, and proceeding to architect the system
to the requirements?
2. Using the list of client-side complicators, do you foresee any difficulties for the acceptance of your system by the client organization or for the transition of the system to the library, within the CSCI 577ab timeline?
3. Discuss how the Information Services Division's
Policies, Resources and Constraints introduced additional complicators
or simplifiers.