Project management

Question 1

Why do software engineering projects fail?

Answer 1

Poor planning
Unclear requirements
Scope creep
Insufficient communication with end client

Question 2

What is agile software development?

Answer 2

Flexible and iterative process to creating software

Question 3

What are the core values of agile software development

Answer 3

Individuals and interactions over process and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan

Question 4

Why use agile software development

Answer 4

Increase team productivity
Visability
Improve adaptability of code
Business and IT alignment
Collaboration with client

Question 5

Why might agile not make projects faster and cheaper?

Answer 5

Too much time on prototyping and not working on actual software

Question 6

Why might agile make projects faster and cheaper?

Answer 6

Working software sooner by iteration

Question 7

Give three examples of agile software development

Answer 7

Scrum, Kanban and XP

Question 8

Explain Scrum

Answer 8

Uses sprint cycles where there is a plan for what each sprint will implement
Scrum master defines roles
Changes made at the end of each sprint

Question 9

Explain Kanban

Answer 9

Kanban board is a list of features to implement
Roles are fluid, project manager is optional
Changes made at any time

Question 10

Explain XP

Answer 10

Pick a user story, plan, develop, test and release software
Roles are fluid and project manager is optional
Changes made at any time

Question 11

What is traditional software development?

Answer 11

Rigid and inflexible approach to developing software. Uses top-down heavy approach to development (all planning, developing then testing)

Question 12

Give two examples of traditional software engineering techniques

Answer 12

V-model and waterfall

Question 13

What do the software quality assurance team do?

Answer 13

Defining quality
Planning for quality
Checking for quality

Question 14

Explain how QA team defines quality

Answer 14

Define product and process standards

Question 15

Give some examples of product standards

Answer 15

Documentation standards
Coding conventions
Class structures

Question 16

Give some examples of process standards

Answer 16

Defined good practices at each stage of SE process (TDD, paired programming)

Question 17

Explain how the QA plans for qualty

Answer 17

Identify standards that will be met, recommending quality promoting processes for the project

Question 18

Explain how the QA checks for quality

Answer 18

Traditional inspection
Fagan inspection
Agile inspections

Question 19

Explain traditional inspection

Answer 19

Group of 3-7 people finding problems in code

Question 20

Explain fagan inspection

Answer 20

Inspection to find defects in code through predefined roles in structured meetings

Question 21

Explain agile inspection

Answer 21

Paired programming, more flexible and informal review of code

Retrospective inspection done at the end of each Scrum sprint

Postmortem inspection done at the end of the project review

Question 22

What is the problem with inspection?

Answer 22

Criticism of person who build code
People worry their performance will be judged
Don’t properly prepare for inspection
People try to discuss every problem as they find it

Question 23

What are the advantages of paired programming

Answer 23

• No ownership of code
• Informally spreads good practice among the team
• Reviewing and coding at the same time
• Separate coding and thinking

Question 24

Why do code conventions help maintain implementation quality?

Answer 24

-Increases the readability of code
-Creates a single style, rather than N peoples different styles
-Defines good practice

Question 25

Explain 3 main activities that the software quality team manage

Answer 25

Define quality
- Identify product and process standards

Plan for quality
- Identify standards and quality promoting processes for project

Check for quality
- inspections

Question 26

Explain how the four original values of the agile manifesto are represented in scrum, kanban and xp

Answer 26

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Daily meetings with team to discuss progress, kanban board to show progress, paired program and collective ownership of code

Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Working software always output of every sprint, short iterations with minimal documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Continuous engagement wiht customer in sprint reviews (and QA with retrospective inspection)

Responding to change over following a plan
- Adjusting plans at the end of each sprint, roles are fluid and plans adjust at any point, continuous integration and responding to change