Week 1

Question 1

What are the 6 phases involved in software development activities?

Answer 1

Requirement specification
Analysis & Design
Implementation
Testing
Deployment
Maintenance

Question 2

Which of the 6 phases is the most problematic and expensive?

Answer 2

Maintenance

Question 3

Rationale of the waterfall method?

Answer 3

The earlier you catch a bug. the cheaper it is to fix it

Question 4

What is the importance of post-delivery maintenance?

Answer 4

Good software is maintained

Question 5

Advantages of the waterfall method?

Answer 5

▪ Waterfall model is easy to understand
due to its simple linear structure and
clearly defined stages
▪ Provides structure to less experienced
staff
▪ Facilitates project management
▪ It helps to define the goals and
deliverables at the early stage of the
project

Question 6

Disadvantages of the waterfall method?

Answer 6

▪ Success depends on precise requirements
▪ No working model of the software until
the end of the life cycle
▪ High amounts of risk / uncertainty.
▪ When in a later stage, it is very difficult to
make any changes to the product
▪ Not realistic: Does not reflect real
processes
▪ Expensive

Question 7

When to use waterfall?

Answer 7

▪ Requirements are very well known
and understood
▪ Technology is understood
▪ If you are building a new version of
an existing product (with some
exceptions)
▪ Low-risk in-house projects
▪ Small and simple Projects
▪ Government projects that heavily
regulated.

Question 8

When to not use waterfall?

Answer 8

▪ Not a great choice for complex and
long-term project
▪ Doesn’t work for maintenance type
project
▪ When client is strict with timeline
and budget
▪ New idea that have not done before
▪ Technology is new or team doesn’t
know it.

Question 9

What is the difference between waterfall method and the rapid prototyping method?

Answer 9

Replace requirements phase with a rapid prototype to get feedback from customer.

Question 10

What is similar about waterfall method and the rapid prototyping method?

Answer 10

Both have only one shot for delivery at the end.

Question 11

What are the advantages of the spiral method?

Answer 11

▪ Customers see the product as it
evolves.
▪ Risk management is part of the life-
cycle (in every iteration)
▪ Project monitoring and scheduling are
easy because of the clear phases
▪ Features can be added

Question 12

What are the disadvantages of the spiral method?

Answer 12

▪ Iterations are very long - they could be 0.5-2
years
▪ A lot of documentation for every iteration
▪ You can’t start a phase till the other ends
▪ Need staff who are experts in risk
▪ identification and resolution
▪ Cost of the process is high (eg. time in
prototyping)
▪ Requires Stakeholder engagement

Question 13

When to use the spiral model?

Answer 13

▪ High Risk and large systems
▪ Can be used for totally new
ideas

Question 14

When to not use the spiral model?

Answer 14

▪ Client is not available
▪ Progress is urgent
▪ When client is strict with
timeline and budget
▪ Low risk and low budget projects
(unnecessary expenses)

Question 15

What are the 4 business phases of RUP?

Answer 15

Inception, Elaboration, Construction, Transition

Question 16

What are the advantages of RUP?

Answer 16

▪ Business Process tied to the development
process
▪ Tool support for gradual improvement of a
project
▪ Risk Mitigation
▪ Focus on quality of design
▪ A framework that allows the use of other
models
▪ Doesn’t need all requirements to be known at
the beginning
▪ Deliver value early (if needed)

Question 17

What are the disadvantages of RUP?

Answer 17

▪ Complicated
▪ Expensive tools are needed
▪ Only good for medium and large- scale
projects
▪ Extensive Documentation and planning (a lot
of overhead)

Question 18

When to Use the Rational Unified Process?

Answer 18

▪ Medium to large projects
▪ Budget and schedule can be
strict
▪ You need to show value early
(you can show something
working in the first iteration of
construction phase)
▪ Engineers experienced with
object-oriented design

Question 19

When to not Use the Rational Unified Process?

Answer 19

▪ Small simple projects
▪ Limited budget projects

Question 20

What are the advantages of agile methodology?

Answer 20

▪ Flexible to change and continuous
feedback which increases the change
of building the right product
▪ Customer Satisfaction
▪ Early value delivery and early to
market
▪ Team Ownership (self organizing
team)

Question 21

What are the disadvantages of agile methodology?

Answer 21

▪ May require some rework (since we
didn’t know EVERYTHING upfront)
▪ Requires close collaboration with the
client
▪ Good tools for automation are a must
have (poor ones might delay you)
▪ Not every individual/team can adopt
Agile values, setup needs trust and
communication

Question 22

When to use agile methodology?

Answer 22

▪ Lightweight methods suit small-
to medium-size projects (or
large projects divided into
components)
▪ Used for time-critical
applications and prototypes
▪ Requirements are sure to
change, new or uncertain
▪ Technology is new

Question 23

When to not use agile methodology?

Answer 23

▪ Do not have a good team
(attitude and skills)
▪ For large projects where
customer needs specific
documentation and formal
communication
▪ Large Systems that can’t be
broken into modules for smaller
teams