Project Management: Procedure and Process Models, etc

Question 1

What is the difference between a process model and a procedure model?

Answer 1

A process model is the procedure model + organisational structure (documentation, etc)

Question 2

What are the procedure models?

Answer 2

waterfall, spiral

Question 3

What are the process models?

Answer 3

phase model, V-modell XT, agile (extreme programming, scrum)

Question 4

Describe the waterfall model?

Answer 4

Software development is seen as a sequence of activities coupled by (partial) results (documents). These activities can be conducted concurrently or iteratively. Sequence: analyse, specify, design, code, test, install, maintain.

Question 5

Define risk

Answer 5

a problem, which did not occur yet, but on occurrence threatens important
project goals or results. Whether it will occur, cannot be surely predicted. Equation: risk value = prob of risk * cost if occurs

Question 6

Describe the Spiral Model procedure

Answer 6

Idea: do not plan everything ahead, go step-by-step. Repeat until end of project:

1. determine set R of risks (if R is empty, project is done)
2. assign each risk r, a risk value v(r)
3. for the risk r with the highest risk value, find a way to eliminate this risk (if not possible, stop with project failure)

Question 7

What are the advantages of the spiral model?

Answer 7

know early if the project goal is unreachable, know that biggest risks are always eliminated

Question 8

What are the four parts of the spiral model diagram?

Answer 8

upper left: investigate goals/alternatives/side conditions,
upper right: conduct risk analysis,
lower right: develop and test next product part,
lower left: plan next phase

Question 9

What is the difference between linear and non-linear procedure models?

Answer 9

linear = waterfall model (no feedback), non-linear = everything else

Question 10

What are the different classifications by treatment of software artefacts?

Answer 10

prototyping, evolutionary, iterative, incremental, staircase (piped incremental)

Question 11

Describe prototyping treatment of software artefacts

Answer 11

create “early release/version” of software to test and develop requirements for actual software based on this

Question 12

Describe evolutionary treatment of software artefacts

Answer 12

Linear set of iterations which produce the software after last iteration (or return to requirements). Each iteration includes field testing, after which the next iteration is planned.

Question 13

Describe iterative treatment of software artefacts

Answer 13

Plan out each iteration (specifications for each iteration) at the beginning. Then conduct each iteration in order. Each iteration includes analyse, design, code, test.

Question 14

Describe incremental treatment of software artefacts

Answer 14

The total extension of a system under development remains
open; it is realised in stages of expansion. The first stage is the core system. Each expansion of features is a separate project which produces a software product.

Question 15

Describe staircase treatment of software artefacts

Answer 15

pipelined incremental

Question 16

List examples of what a process model may include

Answer 16

procedure model, responsibilities, roles, structure of documents, methods to be used to get requirements, tools to be used, notations

Question 17

Definition of a procedure model

Answer 17

steps to be conducted during development,
their sequential arrangement,
their dependencies

Question 18

When is a process model too light?

Answer 18

if it doesn’t support you in doing things which are useful and necessary for your project

Question 19

When is a process model too heavy?

Answer 19

if it forces you to do things which are neither necessary nor useful for your project

Question 20

What is the phase model?

Answer 20

The project is planned by phases,

delimited by well-defined milestones. Used for small projects (few software people, small product size)

Question 21

What are the steps of the V-Modell?

Answer 21

Layers (arrow means verification and validation):

1. requirements fixed acceptance
2. system specified system delivered
3. architecture designed system integrated
4. modules designed system realized

Question 22

What are the project types of the V-Modell?

Answer 22

AG: project from perspective of customer
AN: project from perspective of developer
AG/AN: customer/developer from same organisation
PM: introduction/improvement of a process model

Question 23

Which three strategies does the V-Modell support?

Answer 23

1. incremental (one trace through the V is one increment)
2. component-based (loop through upper part of V until all components of system are created)
3. prototypical (zigzag down the V fully developing an early release )

Question 24

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the V-Modell?

Answer 24

Advantages: includes management activities, generic with support for tailoring, comprehensive so low risk of forgetting anything
Disadvantages: too comprehensive, too many useless documents

Question 25

Describe the Agile Manifesto

Answer 25

Value

1. individuals/interactions over processes/tools
2. working software over comprehensive documentation
3. customer collaboration over contract negotiation
4. responding to change over following a plan

Question 26

Name two examples of agile principles

Answer 26

1. welcome changing requirements, even late in development

2. deliver working software frequently

Question 27

Describe Agile Process Models generally

Answer 27

• iterative with cycles lasting up to 3 months
• work in small groups (6-8 people)
• don’t focus on comprehensive documentation
• recommend or request customer’s presence in project

Question 28

What are extreme programming (XP) values and practices?

Answer 28

Values: simplicity, feedback, communication, courage, respect
Practices: stand-up meetings, continuous integration, joint responsability for code on team, test driven development

Question 29

What are the roles of Scrum? Difference to XP?

Answer 29

Role-based without requiring techniques like XP. Roles:

1. product owner (representative of customer)
2. scrum team (develop autonomously)
3. scrum master (moderates daily scrum, maintaines product backlog)

Question 30

What are important components of Scrum process?

Answer 30

1. daily scrum
2. sprint (max 30 days)
3. sprint review (product owner accepts results)
4. sprint retrospective (how well did scrum work?)

Question 31

Why use process metrics?

Answer 31

quality of production influences product quality

Question 32

What is the CMMI process metric?

Answer 32

Five levels used to assess a company’s software development process: initial, managed, defined, quantitatively managed, optimising.. Example: did the company analyse requirements in some way?

Question 33

What are the process metrics?

Answer 33

CMMI, SPICE (similar to CMMI)

Question 34

Characteristics of a software project

Answer 34

duration is limited, has an originator, has a purpose, has a recipient, links people, results, and resources

Question 35

What defines a successful project?

Answer 35

delivers defined results, with demanded quality, within scheduled time, using assigned resources

Question 36

What are the main project management activities?

Answer 36

planning, assessment and control, recognizing and fighting difficulties, communication, leading/motivating employees, creation/preservation of good working environment for developers

Question 37

Relationship between phases and milestones?

Answer 37

A phase is a continuous, i.e. not interrupted range of time in which certain works are
carried out and completed. At the end of each phase, there is a milestone.

Question 38

Roles and people

Answer 38

In a software project at given time, there is set of active roles. Each role has responsabilities, rights, required skills. Task of project manager: assign a set of people to each role

Question 39

Examples of roles

Answer 39

customer, user, project manager, systems analyst, software architect, developer, maintenance engineer

Question 40

Definition of software development process?

Answer 40

The process by which user needs are translated into a software product.
The process involves translating user needs into software requirements,
transforming the software requirements into design,
implementing the design in code, testing the code, and
sometimes, installing and checking out the software for operational use.

Question 41

What are the definitions of role, artefact, activity, decision point?

Answer 41

role: has responsibilities/rights, needs skills/capabilities .
artefact: all products emerging DURING development prcess
activity: any processing of artefacts.
decision point: special case of activity – decision is made based on artefacts, corresponds to milestone.

Question 42

What are “process building blocks”?

Answer 42

combinations of roles, artefacts, decision points, and activities. relations: responsibility, dependency, creation/modification

Question 43

definition of software life cycle?

Answer 43

The period of time that begins when a software product is conceived
and ends when the software is no longer available for use

Question 44

definition of software development cycle?

Answer 44

The period of time that begins with the decision to

develop a software product and ends when the software is delivered

Question 45

What is the “code and fix” procedure model and pros and cons?

Answer 45

denotes an approach, where coding and correction alternating with
ad-hoc tests are the only consciously conducted activities of software development. Pros: solves problems quickly, activities are easy. Cons: hard to plan project, hard to assign work to people, no notion of correctness if requirements not stated, tests lack expected outcome, maintenance is difficult, documentation is not complete.

Question 46

Why use process model?

Answer 46

devise schedule, estimate/control phases and deadlines