Title ‘Software engineering: Applying project management discipline on software projects’
Chapter 1 Introduction
This paper presents a proposal to research and explore principles of software engineering management, explore how the process applies to project management discipline focus on software based projects as taken from the perspective of software engineering literature and studies. The problem does not focus merely on the principles but also applications that are salient to the management of the project in bringing out proper disciplinary measures according to the principles thereunto. Furthermore, the study will seek to address project management discipline and some issues of how important discipline is in accordance to software principles.
Software
Software is all things which are not hardware in the system.
No man is an island
Software has no life independent from hardware, and must consider the properties of the hardware systems on which it resides, as well as the people involved.
Engineering
Engineering is a process of design, and trial-construction, of something, which aims to produce a system with a specified set of quality-and-cost attributes. We also accept the notion that engineering is the application of heuristics to solving problems.
Software engineering
Software engineering is primarily a design process; construction and use confirm that the right design ideas have been found.
Software engineering specialists
The software engineering discipline is already so complex that specialists in sub-disciplines are required to find the best designs.
The key questions will have to be: What are the problems of interest in
software engineering?, What are the prospects of software engineering discipline? Discuss with examples
The research will focus on software engineering, project management discipline and the main aim of this study is to explore the project disciplines applied on software systems through case study analysis of certain software engineering firms. The following are the objectives of the study:
- To identify the principles of software engineering and recognize appropriate discipline of the software project realization
- To assess whether these software based disciplines are providing software companies quality, effectiveness as well as success factors of the project
- To analyze case study presentations along with preliminary literature organization and support
This study will be most significant to students taking up engineering oriented courses as well as to software consultants and project managers wherein the key to successful project is proper management handling and execution of discipline at all times.
The scope will have to cater to software engineering, in its aspects, process, principles, examples and other imperative information for full coverage of research and application of project disciplines for software related projects such as those that relate to information technology and its avenue.
Chapter 2 Literature Review
Software Engineering: The Nature of the Discipline
Like other disciplines, software engineering requires the cycle of model building, experimentation, and learning Software engineering is a laboratory science. The researcher’s role is to understand the nature of the processes, products and the relationship between the two in the context of the system The practitioner’s role is to build “improved” systems, using the knowledge available (Basili, 2002 p. 3).
More than the other disciplines these roles are symbiotic The researcher needs laboratories to observe and manipulate the
- they only exist where practitioners build software systems
The practitioner needs to better understand how to build better (Basili, 2002 p. 3).
- the researcher can provide models to help
Software engineering is development not production
The technologies of the discipline are human based
All software is not the same
- there are a large number of variables that cause differences
- their effects need to be understood
Currently,
- insufficient set of models that allow us to reason about the
- lack of recognition of the limits of technologies for certain
- there is insufficient analysis and experimentation (Basili, 2002 p. 3).
Recognizing that, the software engineering discipline needs to build software core competencies as part of overall business strategy create organizations for continuous learning to improve software competence generate tangible corporate asset: an experience base of competencies build an empirically-based, tailorable software development process (Basili, 2002 p. 3).
Chapter 3 Research Methodology
The researcher finds this the most appropriate approach as this study would mainly employ gathering and classifying data from the selected population. This type of research also utilizes observations in the study. To illustrate the descriptive type of research, Creswell (1994) states that the descriptive method of research is to gather information about the present existing condition. The purpose of employing this method is to describe the nature of a situation, as it exists at the time of the study and to explore the causes of the particular phenomena. The researcher opted to use this kind of research considering the desire of the researcher to obtain first hand data from the respondents so as to formulate rational and sound conclusions and recommendations fro the study.
Primary and secondary research will be conducted in the study. A semi-structured questionnaire will be developed and it will be used as the survey tool for the study. It is planned that the questionnaire will have a 5 point Likert Scale, as well as ranking questions. Data on both medium will be compared and evaluated using SPSS. Respondents will be chosen through a convenience sampling. Convenience sampling is picked over types of probability sampling because it will make the survey faster and easier. Convenience sampling means to collect or interview individuals who actually experience the phenomenon. Sampling will be done on places where human traffic is evident like the shopping malls and train stations.
Aside from survey, a secondary research will also be conducted in the study. Sources in secondary research will include previous research reports, newspaper, magazine and journal content, organization statistics, etc. Sometimes, secondary research is required in the preliminary stages of research to determine what is known already and what new data are required, or to inform research design. In this paper, existing findings on journals and existing knowledge on books will be used as secondary research. The findings from the journals and books will be evaluated in the data analysis. Types of research journals chosen are all related to issues in advertisements, specifically television and internet advertising. Basically, interpretation will be conducted which can account as qualitative in nature.
This study will also employ qualitative research method because it will try to find and build theories that will explain the relationship of one variable with another variable through qualitative elements in research. Through this method, qualitative elements that do not have standard measures such as behavior, attitudes, opinions, and beliefs within the organizational domain will be analyzed.
The survey data would be presented using descriptive and inferential statistics, based around a number of propositions that the study identified. With this said, this dissertation will be presented in written format with the addition of data charts, representing study results. Some of the analyzed data will be illustrating using pie charts and network charts but this may not be confirmed until survey data had been analyzed. Further, the study is limited only the pieces of information that the respondents are willing to disclose. It is limited to the respondents’ capability to answer such questions.
Chapter 4 Expected Findings and Summary
An approach to the introduction of the project management discipline in a software development organization is presented, with emphasis on the aspects that can be generalized and adopted by other organizations under similar circumstances. The presentation includes the key elements of the approach taken, the maturity scale used to guide the introduction effort, a methodology for developing project models, and the staff and support structure put in place. The paper concludes by reporting the initial experience and noting directions for future development. Based on this proposal, the research paper should have five chapters. The first chapter should present the background of the study, the objectives, research problems, methodology, the study’s scope and limitation and its significance. In the second chapter, literatures pertaining to software engineering and project management discipline applications will be discussed. In chapter three, the methodology used will be discussed for this study. In chapter four, the results of the conducted survey and interview are presented, chapter five, the study summarizes the findings and provides conclusion and recommendations.
List of References
Basili V (2002). Experimentation in Software Engineering Experimental Software Engineering Group Institute for Advanced Computer Studies Department of Computer Science University of Maryland And Fraunhofer Center for Experimental Software Engineering – Maryland
Creswell, J.W. (1994). Research design. Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.
0 comments:
Post a Comment