Lecture 5 - The concept of agility, The Rational Unified Process (RUP)

Question 1

Why do we need agility in ISD?

Answer 1

requirements are changing, technology evolving, unpredictable ISD process,

Question 2

what are the downsides of traditional waterfall development?

Answer 2

inflexible when changes occur, costly when deviating from the plan in later part of development

Question 3

Mention the 4 phases of waterfall method

Answer 3

analysis -> design -> code/test ->implementation

Question 4

what are the agile values in the manifesto?

Answer 4

individuals and interactions over processes and tools, working software over comprehensive documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation, responding to change over following a plan

Question 5

mention some important agile principles

Answer 5

satisfying customer, continuous delivery of software, welcome changing requirements, deliver working software frequently(as in sprints), close collaboration with the customer, working software is measure of progress, simplicity when developing, self-organizing teams

Question 6

benefits of agile ISD

Answer 6

handles changing requirements, lowers cost of change, provides better visibility into projects progress, reduces risk, maximizes ROI as business value is prioritized, higher quality with simpler code, delivers business value early and often

Question 7

Is the waterfall method agile or traditional?

Answer 7

traditional, but also has agile elements as the sequential steps can step backwards as well

Question 8

Is the agile manifesto a method?

Answer 8

No, The agile manifesto is not a method, but general guideline that can help. So even practitioners are not using methods!

Question 9

Are Scrum and XP techniques or methods?

Answer 9

They are techniques that together with other techniques are partial elements of a method in a company - som jeg forstår det, er det fordi en method aldrig følger 100% og derfor er de teknikker, som tilsammen udgør method-in-action?

Question 10

How can agile development work without documentation?

Answer 10

Agile want’s to avoid documentation, so the software should document itself by being build up intuitive

Question 11

What is on-premise development?

Answer 11

On-premise development: sitting at the customer and developing the system to know how it works in practice.

Question 12

How do you measure progress in agile?

Answer 12

delivering features is only measure of progress for agile

Question 13

What is timeboxing? and can you give an example of how this is used in scrum or xp?

Answer 13

Timeboxing refers to the act of putting strict time boundaries around an action or activity. An example of this in scrum are the sprints that are time to 7 days or 14 days. But could also be daily standup meetings that are timeboxed 15’ each morning.

Question 14

What is K-03 in danish standard contracts?

Answer 14

The agile contracts for government projects

Question 15

How would you explain agile ISD using the fitzgerald framework?

Answer 15

Context is the reason for having agile methods.
The IT-system is influenced by agile, if the requirements form plan-based(mentioned in the beginning) are present, then agile isn’t needed.
Role of method is influenced by agile. If we change the job descriptions to be more agile, the political role also changes. Can also empower the software developpers.

Question 16

What is refactoring code and what are the advantages of this?

Answer 16

Code can become messy, when you have no structure. Refactoring is necessary to decompose the whole system, and create the architecture based on this, so it’s exposed to our new learning. But often customers don’t want to pay for this. But for maintenance of the system, it’s a lot easier when it’s refactored.

Question 17

what is a sprint review in scrum?

Answer 17

sprint review: what did we do? with stakeholders/PO

Question 18

What is sprint retrospective?

Answer 18

sprint retrospective: how did we do it. internally with focus on the process of the development

Question 19

Mention the roles, artifacts and ceremonies in scrum?

Answer 19

roles: PO, Scrum Master, development team
artifacts: Product backlog, sprint backlog(items chosen for the specific sprint), Burndown chart
Ceremonies: Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective
see slide for explanation of each: http://www.newtechusa.com/Resources/Scrums3333.pdf

Question 20

which techniques can be described as adaptive, iterative and predictive?

Answer 20

Scrum and XP are adaptive, while Spiral, RAD and RUP are iterative, and waterfall predictive.

Question 21

what is the rational unified process?

Answer 21

an iterative development method.
six best practices for modern software engineering:

• Develop iteratively, with risk as the primary iteration driver (Important to notice!)
• Manage requirements
• Employ a component-based architecture
• Model software visually
• Continuously verify quality
• Control changes (important to notice!)

Question 22

core structure of Rational Unified Process?

Answer 22

Workers (who): roles that individuals or teams are taking
 Activities (how): task of a specific worker affecting artifacts
 Artifacts (what): tangible products (information), used as an input by workers to perform an activity
 Workflows (when): a sequence of activities that produce a result

Question 23

what are the phases of Rational Unified Process?

Answer 23

Inception:you establish the business case for the system and delimit the project scope. Heavy focus on business modeling and requirements.
Elaboration: analyze the problem domain, establish a sound architectural foundation, develop the project plan, and eliminate the highest risk elements of the project. At the end of this phase, the hard “engineering” is considered complete
Construction: components and application features are developed and integrated into the product, and all features are thoroughly tested.
Transition: transition of the software product to the user community

note: in end of elaboration phase you choose whether continuing to construction and transition or abandon project.

Question 24

Core and supporting workflows in RUP?

Answer 24

Core: business modelling, analysis & design, requirements, implementation, testing, implementation
supporting: Project management, configuration/change management, environment

Question 25

benefits and drawbacks of RUP?

Answer 25

Benefits: Improved management, Regular feedback to stakeholders, Improved risk management, You implement the actual requirements, You discover what really works early
Drawbacks:  Process is too complex and can become disorganized, The process need experts, Can be very demanding on the user’s
time, Costs can increase, Needs the right working culture in the organization, Commercial angle