Module description: Software projects have long had a reputation for cost and time overruns - but they need not, and there are well-established, and emerging, techniques and processes to manage them well and effectively: for example, agile methodologies like Scrum which are becoming a de-facto standard in the industry. Also, many projects have significant legal, social, ethical and professional consequences that a practitioner needs to be aware of and sensitive to. This module develops the fundamental skills of successfully building complex software systems, and the implications, including on wider society, of doing so. It will also prepare students for work on any project by equipping them with the skills to successfully plan them, and to commence that planning process.
Syllabus:Project planning and management principles: Timescales and dependencies,
Scoping and resources;
Risks: identifying, quantifying, managing, monitoring, and mitigating;
Team management; Requirements and Specification;
Methodologies for developing software:
Traditional (waterfall, prototyping, spiral),
Rapid Application Development (RAD),
Iterative and incremental,
Agile development, Scrum, Legal, Social, Ethical, and Professional Issues.
