1. Student Software Development Process
Scott Heggen
Computer Science
Student Software Development Process

4. All slides originally developed and supported by William Peterson, LeanBP.com

5. Mission
The Software Systems Developers provide technical solutions to Berea College through the design and implementation of software to solve Berean problems and provide technical and professional development opportunities to our students, while respecting the Berea schedule of students in the Labor Program, meeting College Business deadlines, and protecting institutional data.
Vision
Creation of a software development process that results in timely delivery of software to customers by capturing rework necessitated by customer collaboration in small feedback loops, providing developers quick answers to questions, avoiding development of code that does not target the customers needs, and reducing variation in lead times for delivery.

6. SIPOC Suppliers Inputs Policies Outputs Customers
Berea College Community
Internet
System Request
Problems
Information(data)
IS&S Policy
FERPA
Computer Abuse Act
Faculty Manual
Staff Manual
Style Guides
Soft systems
Customer Support
Regular Maintenance
Improved Processes
Features
Professional Development
Field Experience
Learning Environment
Tech Skills
Students

7. Hi-Level Process Map Volume = 3-5 projects per year WIP = 3
Lead Time = up to a year
Rework = 37.5%
Constraint = Rework due to lack of customer awareness, defined process for developing software
Hi-Level Process Map
Receive request or problems
Design potential solutions
Iterate over prototypes to reach final solution
Test final solution
Document solution
Deliver to customer

8. SWOT Analysis Internal External Strengths Weaknesses Threats
Opportunities
SWOT Analysis
Internal
External
Institutional Support
Tools
Student Enthusiasm
Communication/Teamwork
CS Faculty
Lots of Demand
Lack of Tech Knowledge Outside of Group
Security
Rotating Students
IS&S Policies
Organization
New Tech/Tools
Students
Process Communication
Organization/Structure
Time
Budget
Student Inexperience
Logging

9. Gap Analysis Opportunities and Priorities
Problem Statement:
Developers lack a clear understanding of the customer’s goals.  Customers lack a clear understanding of benefits/limitations of software solutions.  These two constraints combine to cause a large amount of rework within the current process.  This delays delivery and decreases customer satisfaction. 
Student programmers are not given a clear process for approaching new problems. This lack of awareness results in messy code that must be reworked.

10. Charter
Mission – The Software Systems Developers provide technical solutions to Berea College through the design and implementation of software to solve Berean problems and provide technical and professional development opportunities to our students, while respecting the Berea schedule of students in the Labor Program, meeting College Business deadlines, and protecting institutional data.
Burning platform – Increased demand for the services provided by the Student Software Development Team combined with limitations in student staffing require a reduction in rework to ensure delivery deadlines and customer needs are fulfilled.
Process Description – Receive request/problem, design potential solutions, prototype, iterate over prototypes, until reaching a final solution, test the solution, document the solution, and deliver to the customer
Problem Statement – Ambiguity and poor communications leading to missed and unclear deadlines.
Sponsor –Derrick Singleton
Process Owner – Scott Heggen
Team Lead – Scott Heggen
Facilitator – Scott Heggen
Team – Scott Heggen, Cody Myers, Guillermo Ramos-Macias, Ishwar Agarwal, Robert Hosking III

11. Seeing the Process
(Current Process)

12. Cause and Effect Diagram
Lack Of Org. Focus
Inventory
Transportation
Motion
Waiting
Defects
Overproduction
Undesirable Effect
Over-processing
Lack of communication 
results in creation of 
inventory of unused code.
Poor understanding of 
customers needs
Production stalled waiting for ad-hoc meetings
High % of re-work
Time spent developing unwanted features
Handoffs cause
delays awaiting review

14. Examples of Lean Countermeasures Used
Instituted weekly “Battle Rhythm” meetings with customers to decrease re-work and development of unnecessary code.
Instituted daily “Scrum” meetings to increase situational awareness.
Creation of “Standard Work” for process flow ensure improved understanding of customers needs, eliminate ad-hoc meetings, halt the over-processing waste of unnecessary features.
Instituted WIP Boards for tracking individual activity as well as group progress
Utilizing single-text negotiation through the use of Git repositories and Issue Queues

15. (Intermediate Process)
Seeing the Process
(Intermediate Process)

16. Results Summer 2015 (under current state):
We ran 5 projects with 5 students in Summer 2015
Two completed successfully that summer
Two were completed the following Spring 2016
One was scrapped. 
Of the four that are deployed, three of them have undergone significant rework (see next summer).
In all, 2000 hours of work completed this summer, resulting in four deployed applications
An additional 1200 hours (approximate) of rework completed during the Fall and Spring (37.5% rework)
Summer 2016 (under intermediate state):  
We ran 3 new projects with 6 students in Summer 2016 
We ran 3 continuing projects with 2 students in Summer 2016 (significant reworks from previous year)
All six of the projects were finished by end of summer (though they were not live due to resource constraints imposed by another department)
None will be scrapped
Minimal rework on these systems is planned for the upcoming summer
In all, 3200 hours of work completed this summer, resulting in 6 deployed applications
An estimated 200 hours of rework completed during the Fall and Spring (4% rework)
The elimination of rework resulted 1400 hours (approximate) of continued development of new features during the Fall and Spring 

17. Results 1200 hours of rework before 200 hours of rework after
1000 hrs * $30/hr1= $30,000 labor savings
1 - Berea College published labor rate for students in primary labor positions

18. Programmer Observations
Student Programmer #1 reports:
Improvements realized by the process change:
The weekly scrum has been very useful for the weekly sprints. 
The definition and scope of what we do have also been better established.
The system of methods we used has helped the process and it has helped me improve and SHOW improvements to other.
Remaining Challenges:  
There is less communication between programmers.
The phone is further away.
 Exploring other aspects of Agile
Student Programmer #2 reports:
Standardization: With the way, our current system is setup it is now much easier to be able to jump into an unfamiliar project. 
Coding Standards: Flask has provided us a better standard for separating different parts of the system according to the web framework model, view, controller. Whereas, with our old system they were all mixed in together creating confusion. 
Learning Curve: I think the learning curve for flask is not as drastic as php. It's a little easier for our student programmers to pick up due to their prior knowledge in python. 
Remaining Challenges:
Community: Due to our growth and new projects our sense of community has decreased. It seems that the student programmers are more focused on their own particular project and only ask either Scott or the lead programmer for help. I would like to see more communication across different projects. 
What Could Be Improved: 
Security Checks: I can say with 100% confidence that all of our forms across all of our systems are built in a manner that doesn't allow escape characters.
Documentation and Commenting: It's just not done enough. 
Authorization: It really should be standard across all of our systems, and I don't currently think that it is. 

19. Faculty Observations
Interdepartmental hand-offs still are not well-defined processes, and often still result in delays
      (E.g., creating new servers from our IT dept.)
Retraining each year
A natural part of working with the labor program
Significant learning among multiple dimensions must occur early for the students
Standard work can help with this, but can’t solve

20. Call or email anytime, but send what you have so far
Progress Check
Call or anytime, but send what you have so far