Managing Construction By Semirindi Makala

Encouraging good coding Assign two people to every part of the project : If two people have to work on each line of code, you’ll guarantee that at least two people think the code works and is readable. Review every line of code. Require code sign-offs by the managing engineer.

Configuration Management Configuration management is the practice of identifying project artifacts and handling changes systematically so that a system can maintain its integrity over time. To achieve this, we have to : Follow a systematic change-control procedure making sure that change will be considered for what’s best for the project overall

Configuration Management cont’d Handle change requests in groups Estimate the cost of each change (time, revision of the code and retesting the system) Be wary of high change volumes because they often mean that the original product wasn’t well done enough to support effective construction.

Estimating a Construction schedule Establish objectives: Figure what you want out of the system/ software that you’re creating. Spell out software requirements by defining the requirements or plan a preliminary exploration phase before making an estimate. Estimate at a low level detail :

Estimating a Construction schedule Estimate at a low level detail :Depending on the objectives the more detailed your examination is, the more accurate your estimation will be. Reestimate periodically: Factors on a software project change after the initial estimate, so plan to update your estimations periodically.

Measurement Measurement gives you a handle on your software development process that you wouldn’t have without it. Here are some useful software development measurements 1. Size (Lines of code, comment lines, declarations, etc) 2. Overall quality ( Total number of defects, mean time between failures

Measurement 3. Maintainability :(Lines of code in each class or routine, Number of local variables used by each routine, etc) 4. Defect :( Severity of each defect, location of each defect, etc) 5. Productivity :(Work-hours spent on the project, work-hours spent on each class or routine, dollars spent per defect, etc)

Treating Programmers as people Be aware that you’re dealing with a sensitive area : Don’t expect them to be perfect : software development is still going to involve bugs. Avoid setting rigid “rules” or “standards” Have your programmers develop their own standards : Don’t set your standards for your programmers, let them develop their own.

Managing your Manager Non-technical managers are common in software development, therefore you can help a manager by: Planting ideas for what you want to do. Educating your manager about the right way to do things.

Managing your Manager cont’d Refuse to do what your manager tells you as far as the technical side is concerned and insist on doing your job the right way. Find another job.

Questions ?