Syllabus for SSE 693

Lean and Agile Software Development (Note: After Summer 2008 this course will become SSE 675.)

Changes Are possible.

Summer Semester 2008 (08U)

Instructor: Dr. Paul E. MacNeil

Office:       Suite 223a, School of Engineering

Phone:       478-301-2185

                  478-301-2732

Email:        macneil_pe@mercer.edu

Textbooks and Supplies:

Texts (including web sites):

• Implementing Lean Software Development: From Concept to Cash (1st ed.), by Mary Poppendieck and Tom Poppendieck, Addison Wesley, ISBN 0321437381 (2006) Check Out This Text (Required)
• Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game (2nd. ed.), by Alistair Cockburn, Addison Wesley, ISBN 0321482751 (2006) Check Out This Text (Required)
• Balancing Agility and Discipline: A Guide for the Perplexed (1st ed.), by Barry Boehm and Richard Turner, Addison Wesley ISBN 0321186125 (2003) Check Out This Text (Required)

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Software (including web sites):

• TBD
• An Internet ftp client of your choice.  Core FTP LE is free and works well http://www.coreftp.com/ .  (Required, but your choice)

Other Useful Resources (including web sites):

• TBD

Catalog Description (Course Purpose):

Special Topics.

Software project management and processes with consideration of process impact on cost, schedule, and development techniques.

Please note that this course is conducted *asynchronously* with regard to the face-to-face class meeting schedule. That is, the course begins on May 19, 2008, for *all* students.

Course Objectives:

Breadth and Depth in Defining, Analyzing, and Solving Complex Problems:

• After successfully completing this course, you should be able to demonstrate a basic capability to evaluate and select appropriate kinds of development and/or maintenance processes to solve complex problems.

Communicate Technical Aspects of the Solution for Complex Software Engineering Problems to a Technical Audience:

• After successfully completing this course, you should be able to demonstrate a basic ability to communicate appropriate kinds of development and/or maintenance processes to a technical audience.

Prerequisites:

Admission to the SSE program or to the graduate Computer Engineering program or permission of the SSE program director.

Class Location:

• The Macon face-to-face meetings take place in the Engineering Building Room 216b. (Directions to the Macon campus, and a map of the Macon campus can be found at  http://www2.mercer.edu/Admissions/macon.html and  http://www2.mercer.edu/About_Mercer/MaconMap/default.htm [look for Building 34 on the map], respectively.)
• The Distance Learning asynchronous "meetings" take place in Cyberspace; i.e., on the Internet.

Grading:

More information about grading is contained in the General Project Rubric.

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Assignments:

• Purpose of projects:
• Use the projects to develop your capabilities, and
• Use the projects to demonstrate your capabilities.
• Deliverables for all projects:
• Your report should be a single, standalone document in .html or .doc format.
• Your report should be organized in such a way as to make the topics that you want credit for covering easy to find, and demonstrate your capabilities clearly and convincingly. Everything you want considered for credit, including code and tests (including test results), should be included in the report.
• Each project can be a single, integrated project that tries to actually do something, or a collection of exercises that demonstrate your capabilities but don't accomplish anything else, or any combination of these two alternatives that you find convenient.
• You may include other material outside of the report, if you wish, but this material may or may not be considered in evaluating your work.
• For each capability that you demonstrate within a report or major section of that report, you may present only the final result of your work; you need not demonstrate every step in the development of that result.
• Some suggestions for doing a project are contained in the One Way to Do a Project page.
• Assignment 1 (Solo):
• Read Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game (Cockburn).
• Write a report on this book as follows:
• Your report should be in .doc or .html format. If you wish to use .doc format, but don't have MS Word, consider using OpenOffice.org, but remember to override the default file format and save as .doc.
• The content of your report should address:
• What subject is addressed by this book?
• With what issues is this book concerned? What problems does the book attempt to solve? What matters to the authors?
• What do you think of this book's selection of issues and problems? What do you think of the book's solution to these problems?
• What issues/problems that were not included in the book do you think should have been included? Why?
• What other changes to this book would you suggest?
• Which parts of the contents of this book are/could be applicable in your current working environment? Why, and why not?
• Would you like to work on projects run in accordance with this book? Why? Why not?
• Assignment 2 (Solo):
• Review what other students have written about Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game (Cockburn) in Assignment 1.
• Read Implementing Lean Software Development: From Concept to Cash (Poppendieck & Poppendieck) in Assignment 2.
• Write a report on this book as follows:
• Your report should be in .doc or .html format. If you wish to use .doc format, but don't have MS Word, consider using OpenOffice.org, but remember to override the default file format and save as .doc.
• The content of your report should address:
• What subject is addressed by this book?
• With what issues is this book concerned? What problems does the book attempt to solve? What matters to the authors?
• What do you think of this book's selection of issues and problems? What do you think of the book's solution to these problems?
• What issues/problems that were not included in the book do you think should have been included? Why?
• What other changes to this book would you suggest?
• Which parts of the contents of this book are/could be applicable in your current working environment? Why, and why not?
• Would you like to work on projects run in accordance with this book? Why? Why not?
• Compare and contrast this book withAgile Software Development: The Cooperative Game (Cockburn).
• Assignment 3 (Solo):
• Review what other students have written about Implementing Lean Software Development: From Concept to Cash (Poppendieck & Poppendieck) in Assignment 2.
• Read Balancing Agility and Discipline: A Guide for the Perplexed (Boehm & Turner).
• Write a report on this book as follows:
• Your report should be in .doc or .html format. If you wish to use .doc format, but don't have MS Word, consider using OpenOffice.org, but remember to override the default file format and save as .doc.
• The content of your report should address:
• What subject is addressed by this book?
• With what issues is this book concerned? What problems does the book attempt to solve? What matters to the authors?
• What do you think of this book's selection of issues and problems? What do you think of the book's solution to these problems?
• What issues/problems that were not included in the book do you think should have been included? Why?
• What other changes to this book would you suggest?
• Which parts of the contents of this book are/could be applicable in your current working environment? Why, and why not?
• Would you like to work on projects run in accordance with this book? Why? Why not?
• Compare and contrast this book withAgile Software Development: The Cooperative Game (Cockburn), and with Implementing Lean Software Development: From Concept to Cash (Poppendieck & Poppendieck).
• Assignment 4 (Team):
• The deliverable is a report in .doc or .html format.
• Each member of the team should write an essentially complete first draft of the report, not looking at any other team members' work until s/he has completed and posted (to the ftp server) his/her own draft.
• Team members should _not_ divide the document up into sections to be worked on solo by individuals; each team member should be fully involved in writing each section of each draft.
• For purposes of this report, imagine that you have been appointed software development dictator for a new software project.
• You have complete authority over the project, and complete responsibility for its success or failure.
• Clearly state any assumptions that you make about the project (e.g., kind of product, kind of customer, relative importance of time to market, etc.), but do make reasonable assumptions (e.g., no infinite budgets, eternal schedules, lack of consequences for failure, etc.).
• Describe, in some detail, using the concepts from the texts, how you will run this project, emphasizing the process issues addressed in the texts.
• Explain what process options you considered, and what the strengths and weaknesses of these options are, and why you selected the options that you did.
• Anticipate objections (to your option selections) of the kinds that might be made by one or more of the authors of our texts, and by people with other points of view covered in these texts.
• Your target reader is anyone who is familiar with software process issues, although the reader may not have read our texts.
• Include in your report how you will deal with people who want you to do the project differently; even dictators get contradicted, and your treatment of dissent has to satisfy American law.
• Work top down, at least in that you cover the forest before you get into the trees. In other words, don't let emphasis on one part of the project or process prevent you from giving a clear picture of the project and process overall.
• Treat this assignment as your opportunity to show what you know about and can do with software processes, especially lean and/or agile software processes. Even if you choose a process that is neither lean nor agile, you can still show off your knowledge by addressing the concerns of those who practice lean and agile processes.
• If you have any questions or issues regarding this project, please present them via the listserv.
• Please raise any issues via the course listserv.
• TBD

Additional Information:

• Asynchronous Learning Nets (ALNs)
• Self Study: You study the texts and any other course study material on your own.
• Collaborative Projects: After your self-study, you collaborate (via the Internet [email, ftp]) with your partner(s) to produce a team product. Your collaborative work is substantial, asynchronous, and rapid.
• This course is a distance learning course with 100% optional face-to-face class meetings Please read this Distance Learning web page regarding distance learning in this course and this program.

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• Subscribe to the course email listserv and be able to access our FTP server; your professor can tell you how to do this.
• Study the assigned material.
• Write and read email messages about ideas, problems and solutions to do with the assigned study material.
• Do the assigned exercises.
• Write and read email messages (to/from the listserv) about ideas, problems and solutions to do with the assigned homework.
• Review the exercises done by other people, as assigned by the professor.

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Changes to this Syllabus:

There will be changes to this syllabus, so check back frequently, and don't forget to hit "Reload" or "Refresh".

Schedule of Events and Assignments:

Notes:

tbd

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Schedule of Macon Face-to-face Class Meetings:

attendance is 100% optional.

All Macon face-to-face meetings are from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

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List of all courses.

Contact Information

• My Name: Dr. Paul E. MacNeil (Atlanta, Macon and DL Section)
• My E-mail: macneil_pe@mercer.edu .
• My Office Phone: 478 301-2185
• My FAX: 478 301-2732
• US Mail:
 
• Dr. Paul E. MacNeil
• School of Engineering
• Mercer University
• 1400 Coleman Ave.
• Macon, GA 31207

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Important Additional Information:
Students requiring accommodations for a disability should inform the instructor at the close of the first class meeting or as soon as possible.  If you are not registered with Disability Services, the instructor will refer you to the Disability Support Services office for consultation regarding documentation of your disability and eligibility for accommodations under the ADA/504.  In order to receive accommodations, eligible students must provide each instructor with a “Faculty Accommodation Form” from Disability Services.  Students must return the completed and signed form to the Disability Services Coordinator on the 3rd floor of the Connell Student Center.  Students with a documented disability who do not wish to use academic accommodations are also strongly encouraged to register with Disability Services and complete a Faculty Accommodation Form each semester.  For further information, please contact Carole Burrowbridge, Disability Services Coordinator, at 301-2778 or visit the web site at http://www.mercer.edu/stu_support/swd.htm

Accreditation: Mercer University is accredited by SACS.