Chapter 8 Workflows of the Process Taken from Walker Royce’s textbook – Software Project Management plus a number of Personal Comments

Overview Introductory Remarks 8.1 Software Process Workflows 8.2 Iteration Workflows

Introductory Remarks We like sequential activities. Human nature. We basically perform activities sequentially But Teams must operate in parallel. Requires synchronization, cross-checking, … Managing these workflows is a primary source of management complexity and leadership. Times have changed from the old days. We are required to more in less time with more tools, better support environments, but with very high expectations!

Old Way for Tracking Workflow: Sequential Activities In the past, projects ‘progressed’ via sequential progress through fixed activities. Successful projects had boundaries not rigid; non-adversarial stakeholders Unsuccessful projects had rigid boundaries. All activities had to be completed before pressing on… Much work spent on details (such as completing a manual…) while slighting important development / engineering activities.

New Way for Tracking Workflow: State of the Project We now avoid naming life-cycle phases after the predominant activities. Now we track the ‘state’ of development within phases (inception, elaboration, construction, transition), recognizing that activities and artifacts evolve and eventually become stable. We develop incrementally producing executables along way.

8.1 Software Process Workflows We have spoken about fundamental sets of artifacts and the phases in which they are largely produced – recognizing the evolution of these artifacts. (Scan Chapter 6) We now need to look inside the phases and the iterations – micro-level. Interestingly, within these boundaries, we will use the term workflow, and talk about a thread of cohesive activities that are mostly sequential. The Workflows will be mapped to the product artifacts and to the teams… So, let’s look at high-level workflows.

Management Workflow Level of Activities: Has a reasonably constant level of activity. Artifacts include Business Case Software Development Plan (SDP) Status Assessments Vision – Business and Product Work Breakdown structure Life Cycle Phase Emphasis Inception – prepare business case and vision (Business case + Vision) Elaboration – Plan development (map to SDP) Construction – Monitor and control development (map to Status Assessments) Transition – Monitor and control deployment

Environment Workflow Level of Activities: Reasonably medium level activity in inception; Quite low in Construction and Transition (should already be well established and operational); High level of activity in Elaboration, development environment and change management database are obtained, installed and configured for use. A robust Environment is essential! Artifacts Environment Defined (tools, procedures, standards, version / configuration ctl…) Software Change Order database (Mechanism for Change Control!!!) Life Cycle Phase Emphasis Inception – define development environment and change mgmt infrastructure Elaboration – install development environment; establish change management database Construction – maintain development environment; maintain software change order database Transition – Transition to maintenance environment and software change order database.

Requirements Workflow Level of Activities: Construction / Transition: Very low level (does not mean NO activity…) Higher level in Inception, especially toward the end of Inception. In fact, activities of Requirements effort are highest at the end of inception and the start of Elaboration and continuing at a high (but lower) level in Elaboration. Artifacts: Requirements set – vision; business rules; risks; statements of work, … Release Specifications – Plans for dissemination of products/ documentation/ training/ customer support/ follow-on activities…. Vision Documents – further developed; refined; bought into; shared vision… Life Cycle Phase Emphasis Inception – define operational concept Elaboration – Define architecture objectives (components; distribution, platforms, …) Construction – Define iteration objectives – high level; purpose; plans Transition – Transition maintenance environment and software change order database.

Design Workflow Levels of activities – (model the solution and evolving the architecture and design artifacts) Builds like a symmetrical mountain from inception steadily upward and peaking in Elaboration and gradually diminishing during Construction. Remember: key architecture done early; remaining items should be done but not as architecturally-significant. Artifacts Design set – Models … Architecture Description – architectural model choices. … Life Cycle Phase Emphasis Inception – formulate architecture concept Elaboration – Achieve architecture baseline Construction – Design components Transition – Refine architecture and components.

Implementation Workflow Implementation workflow Levels of activities – (Programming the components and evolving the implementation and deployment artifacts) Inception: Low activity in Inception, Elaboration: medium activity Construction: very high activity Transition: tapering off during Transition but fixes / maintenance resulting from alpha, beta testing... Artifacts Implementation set: architectural models; subsystems, packages, programs, modules, etc. etc. Deployment set – what goes into the release? Life Cycle Phase Emphasis Inception – Support architecture prototype Elaboration – Produce architecture baseline Construction – Produce complete componentry Transition – Maintain components

Assessment Workflow Assessment workflow Levels of activities – (assessing the trends in process and product quality) Inception – very low Elaboration – a little higher, but low Construction and Transition: very very high in Construction and continuing at this height; gradually becoming a lower level of activity. Artifacts Release Specifications Release Descriptions User manuals Deployment Set Life Cycle Phase Emphasis Inception – Assess plans, vision, prototypes  Elaboration – Assess architecture  Construction – Assess interim releases  Transition – Assess product releases

Deployment Workflow Deployment workflow Levels of activities – (Transitioning the end products to the user) Inception: Very low level Elaboration: Medium level Construction: low during Transition: pretty high level of activity Artifacts Deployment Set Life Cycle Phase Emphasis Inception – Analyze user community Elaboration – Define use manual Construction – Prepare transition materials Transition – Transition product to user

Modern Process Framework These levels of activities and the artifacts produced represent one of the key signatures of a modern process framework 1. Architecture-first approach “Extensive requirements analysis, design, implementation, and assessment activities are performed before the construction phase (phase), when full-scale implementation (core disciplines) is the focus.  This early life-cycle focus on implementing and testing the architecture must precede full-scale development and testing of all the components and must precede the downstream focus on completeness and quality of the entire breadth of the product features.”

2. Iterative life-cycle process. “Each phase portrays at least two iterations of each workflow. This default is intended to be descriptive, not prescriptive. Some projects may require only one iteration in a phase; others may require several iterations. The point is that the activities and artifacts of any given … core discipline may require more than one pass to achieve adequate results.” 3. Round-trip Engineering “Raising the environment activities to a first-class … Core Supporting Discipline is critical. The environment is the tangible embodiment of the project’s process, methods, and notations for producing the artifacts.” 4. Demonstration-based Approach Implementation and assessment activities are initiated early in the life cycle, reflecting the emphasis on constructing executable subsets of the evolving architecture.”  Recall, each iteration contains assessment at its conclusion.