The bare essentials 1 Flashcards
What is a project?
A temporary endeavor to create a unique product, service or result.
Focus: temporary, limited budget, limited resources
What are the four main activities of the design cycle, and what is key to the design cycle?
- Analyze;
- Design;
- Implement;
- Test;
-> Iterative, each activity affects the other
What are the four steps in waterfall approach, what do they deliver, and which two additional steps can be added?
- Analysis (–> requirements)
- Design (–> specification)
- Implement (–> software)
- Test
- Adoption;
- Maintenance
Key characteristics of waterfall?
- Most time in first two steps;
- Focus on planning and requirements;
- Requirements don’t change in principle;
- Next step only when previous is finished;
Conditions when Agile is useful?
- Complex problem;
- Solutions are initially unknown;
- Requirements will change;
- Work can be modularized;
- Close collaborations with end-users is possible;
- Creative teams will outperform other types of teams;
What is the triple constraint of projects?
A project has 3 limitations:
- Scope (what and how)
- Time
- Cost
- Quality
- Satisfaction of project sponsor
When is a project a success?
- Satisfies scope, time and cost;
- Satisfies customer/sponsor;
- Meets main objectives;
What is the PMI talent triangle?
Skills a PM should have:
- Technical PM skills;
- Strategic and business management skills;
- Leadership skills;
What is sequencing in a project?
In which order the activities should be executed and if there are mandatory dependencies.
-> reduce false dependencies;
Everything about the critical path (CPM)?
Network diagram technique used to predict total project duration.
-> longest mandatory path (based on dependencies) is the shortest time in which a project is done.
Slack/Float = amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the project
Shorten the CP by:
- Increasing resources;
- Crashing: trade-offs between cost and scheduling;
- Fasttracking: doing activities the same time when they should be done after eachother
Four difficulties in software engineering according to brooks?
- Complexity
- Conformity
- Changeability
- Invisibility
What is complexity according to Brooks?
A function of: Number of components (volume) Types of components (variety) Number of attributes (depth) Number of relations (dependencies
Essential: inherent to the nature of the software
Accidental: it was made to complex -> rules, compliance, integration
What is conformity according to Brooks?
No standards, so has to conform to expectations and norms. These change per context
Does it conform to other products/packages/modules?
- Conform to norms, other applications;
- > new software need to conform because it is new, must be seen as good to use;
- Conformity to other interfaces causes more complexity
What is changeability according to Brooks?
Must be changeable after release -> updates;
New uses help keeping it relevant, also after hardware expires;
What is invisibility according to Brooks?
Software is no 1 way to visualize it. Therefore it is difficult to communicate about the technical aspects with others, which also impedes the process of design
