Course Code: CSSE7034 Course Title: Predictable Professional Performance
Coordinating Unit: School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering
Semester: Semester 2, 2009    Mode: Internal
Level: Postgraduate Coursework
Location: St Lucia
Number of Units: 2    Contact Hours Per Week: 2C

Course Description: This course introduces students to the Personal Software Process (PSP), which can serve as the basis for software development process improvement in the organisation, as well as for helping individuals. It also introduces the Team Software Process (TSP), which is a process that enables teams of software engineers to work together better. TSP focuses on some disciplined approaches and strategies to deal with problems that regularly occur during team formations.

Assumed Background: Students are expected to have:

• some experience in software design and programming in Java,
• an interest in software process improvement, and
• a desire to improve the way in which they personally develop software.

Many software products are developed in an ad-hoc fashion by developers using their own personal methods and techniques. This situation would be acceptable if it reliably produced software products of high quality, at or below the budgeted cost, and on or ahead of schedule. Sadly, this is not the case and the term “software crisis” was coined in the 1960s to capture the notion of chaotic (unpredictable) development. This so-called crisis has become chronic.

A Standish Group survey of 8,000 software projects in 1995 found that:

• the average project exceeds its planned budget by 90% and its schedule by 120%;
• 33% of all projects are over budget and late;
• 52.7% of projects will cost at least 189% of their original estimates;
• only 16.2% of projects will be completed on time, on budget;
• in large companies, only 9% of projects come in on time, on budget;
• the average time overrun is 222% of the original estimate.

Subsequent surveys by the Standish Group have revealed similar results with a slowly increasing proportion of projects completed on time and on budget (35% in 2006).

While there have been improvements, software development is still considered to be inadequate, unreliable and lacking in the discipline associated with engineering and other comparable professional disciplines. As we increase the size and complexity of the problems we attempt, so the importance of our development process increases. This course aims to make students aware of the value of defined personal and team software processes and ways to improve their effectiveness.

What is the Personal Software Process^SM (PSP^SM)?

The Personal Software Process (PSP), created by Watts Humphrey of the Software Engineering Institute, shows engineers how to:

• manage the quality of their projects
• make commitments they can meet
• improve estimating and planning
• reduce defects in their products

Engineers using the PSP to develop software follow defined processes and collect detailed metrics on the time required to produce a product, the defects that were injected and removed at various stages in development, and the size of the finished product. These metrics are then analyzed using statistical methods, enabling engineers to produce highly accurate estimates based on historical data, track progress and quality of a project in progress, predict schedule impacts, and predict the quality of a finished software product. The PSP encourages engineers to quantitatively determine ways to improve their process.

Based on practices found in the Capability Maturity Model (CMM), the PSP can be used by engineers as a guide to a disciplined and structured approach to developing software. The PSP is a prerequisite for an organization planning to introduce the TSP.

The PSP can be applied to many parts of the software development process, including:

• small-program development
• requirement definition
• document writing
• systems tests
• systems maintenance
• enhancement of large software systems

What is the Team Software Process^SM (TSP^SM)?

The Team Software Process (TSP), also developed by Watts Humphrey, used in conjunction with the Personal Software Process helps software engineers to

• ensure quality software products
• create secure software products
• improve process management in an organization

Engineering groups use the TSP to apply integrated team concepts to the development of software-intensive systems. A four-day launch process walks teams and their managers through

• establishing goals
• defining team roles
• assessing risks
• producing a team plan

After the launch, the TSP provides a defined process framework for managing, tracking and reporting the team's progress. Using TSP, an organization can build self-directed teams that plan and track their work, establish goals, and own their processes and plans. These can be pure software teams or integrated product teams of 3 to 20 engineers. TSP helps organizations establish a mature and disciplined engineering practice that produces secure, reliable software.

What is TSPi?

TSPi is an introductory version of TSP designed for use in academic settings. It is described in the book Introduction to the Team Software Process by Watts Humphrey (Addison-Wesley, 2000)

Personal Software Process^SM, PSP^SM, Team Software Process^SM, and TSP^SM are service marks of Carnegie Mellon University.

(www.sei.cmu.edu/tsp/, processdash.sourceforge.net/)

Course Coordinator:  David Carrington
Phone: 3365 3310     Email: davec@itee.uq.edu.au
Campus: St Lucia Building: General Purpose South (Map)   Room: 323
Consultation: The best way to contact me is via email.

Timetables are available on mySI-net.

• Demonstrate systematic approaches to software development based on the Personal Software Process^SM (PSP^SM)  and the Team Software Process^SM (TSP^SM) developed by Watts Humphrey.
• Show students how to measure and analyse their personal software process.
• Reveal how process data can be used to improve software development performance.
• Provide students with experience of reflective and disciplined software development methods.

After successfully completing this course you should be able to:

Successfully completing this course will contribute to the recognition of your attainment of the following UQ (Postgrad Coursework) graduate attributes:

W.S. Humphrey, PSPSM: A self-improvement process for software engineers, Addison-Wesley, 2005. (newPSPbook)

W.S. Humphrey. Introduction to the Team Software Process, Addison-Wesley, 2000.
W.S. Humphrey. A Discipline for Software Engineering. Addison-Wesley, 1995. (oldPSPbook)
W.S. Humphrey. Winning with Software: An Executive Strategy, Addison Wesley, 2002.
W.S. Humphrey. TSPSM: Leading a Development Team, Addison Wesley, 2006.
W.S. Humphrey. TSPSM: Coaching Development Teams, Addison-Wesley, 2006.
The Software Engineering Institute's PSP and TSP website: www.sei.cmu.edu/tsp

Access to required and recommended resources, plus past central exam papers, is available at the UQ Library website (http://library.uq.edu.au/search/r?SEARCH=CSSE7034).

The University offers a range of resources and services to support student learning. Details are available on the myServices website (https://student.my.uq.edu.au/).

Facilities

Laboratory time for CSSE7034 is unscheduled and at the discretion of each student. The ITEE laboratories are located in level 1 and 2 of the G.P. South Building. Access to the School's workstations is controlled by password. Information about passwords is available in the laboratories and from the school office, which can also supply a handout entitled "A Brief Guide to Student Facilities in GP South". External access is provided via ITS's dial-in facilities; a secure shell (ssh) client is required - see the "Remote Access" via the link on http://studenthelp.itee.uq.edu.au/ .

Consultation

Consultation times for the course will be advised at the first lecture and on the course web site (http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~csse7034). 

Distribution of Notices

Announcements will be made in lectures, on the course webpage and newsgroup, and via e-mail as necessary.

Educational Philosophy

Education is often presented as a transmission model with the teacher generating information and students absorbing it. We regard this model as seriously flawed since it suggests that learning can be a passive process.

We cannot make you learn (any more than we can make you happy or angry). We can do things but how you react is under your control (see Stephen Covey's book: The seven habits of highly effective people which we strongly recommend). We can provide conditions that we believe are conducive to learning, and we can be part of a dialogue to resolve issues and problems that affect your learning. We believe that no single learning strategy suits everyone and hence variety is important to encompass individual differences.

We are strong supporters of active learning that sees learning as a process of change, not just of preparation. We think we need to be conscious of the learning strategies we use, and that we need to understand how to monitor and assess their effectiveness. We understand that some people may not be used to thinking about how they learn and that consideration of the learning process may seem to conflict with course content demands. However, to produce reflective and life-long learners, we need to go beyond Nike's “Just do it” by using reflection to “Do it better”.

This is a summary of the assessment in the course. For detailed information on each assessment, see 5.5 Assessment Detail below.

PSP Basic
Assessment Task Due Date Weighting Learning Objectives programming exercise Program 1 3 Aug 09 17:00 5% 1, 2, 6 programming exercise Program 2 10 Aug 09 17:00 5% 1, 2, 6 standards Size and counting standards 10 Aug 09 17:00 2% 4, 5, 6 programming exercise Program 3 17 Aug 09 17:00 5% 1, 2, 6 programming exercise Program 4 24 Aug 09 17:00 5% 1, 2, 6 review checklists Design and Code review checklists 24 Aug 09 17:00 3% 4, 5, 6 programming exercise Program 5 31 Aug 09 17:00 5% 1, 2, 6 programming exercise Program 6 7 Sep 09 17:00 5% 1, 2, 6 Report PSP Basic report 14 Sep 09 17:00 15% 3, 4, 5, 6
PSP Extended
Assessment Task Due Date Weighting Learning Objectives programming exercise Program 7 21 Sep 09 17:00 8% 1, 2, 6 programming exercise Program 8 5 Oct 09 17:00 8% 1, 2, 6 programming exercise Program 9 12 Oct 09 17:00 8% 1, 2, 6 programming exercise Program 10 19 Oct 09 17:00 8% 1, 2, 6 Report PSP Extended report 16 Nov 09 17:00 18% 3, 4, 5, 6
TSPi
Assessment Task Due Date Weighting Learning Objectives TSPi - planning phase Cycle 1: TSPi planning 21 Sep 09 17:00 5% 1, 6 TSPi - implementing phase Cycle 1: TSPi design and implementation 5 Oct 09 17:00 5% 2, 6 TSPi - reviewing phase Cycle 1: TSPi reviewing 12 Oct 09 17:00 5% 3, 4, 5, 6 TSPi - planning phase Cycle 2: TSPi planning 19 Oct 09 17:00 7% 1, 6 TSPi - implementing phase Cycle 2: TSPi design and implementation 26 Oct 09 17:00 7% 2, 6 TSPi - reviewing phase Cycle 2: TSPi reviewing 30 Oct 09 17:00 6% 3, 4, 5, 6 Report TSPi final report 16 Nov 09 17:00 15% 3, 4, 5, 6

Grade 1, Fail: Fails to demonstrate most or all of the basic requirements of the course: (0-19%)

Grade 2, Fail: Demonstrates clear deficiencies in understanding and applying fundamental concepts; communicates information or ideas in ways that are frequently incomplete or confusing and give little attention to the conventions of the discipline: (20-44%)

Grade 3, Fail: Demonstrates superficial or partial or faulty understanding of the fundamental concepts of the field of study and limited ability to apply these concepts; presents undeveloped or inappropriate or unsupported arguments; communicates information or ideas with lack of clarity and inconsistent adherence to the conventions of the discipline: (45-49%)

Grade 4, Pass: Demonstrates adequate understanding and application of the fundamental concepts of the field of study; develops routine arguments or decisions and provides acceptable justification; communicates information and ideas adequately in terms of the conventions of the discipline: (50-64%)

Grade 5, Credit: Demonstrates substantial understanding of fundamental concepts of the field of study and ability to apply these concepts in a variety of contexts; develops or adapts convincing arguments and provides coherent justification; communicates information and ideas clearly and fluently in terms of the conventions of the discipline: (65-74%)

Grade 6, Distinction: As for 5, with frequent evidence of originality in defining and analysing issues or problems and in creating solutions; uses a level, style and means of communication appropriate to the discipline and the audience: (75-84%)

Grade 7, High Distinction: As for 6, with consistent evidence of substantial originality and insight in identifying, generating and communicating competing arguments, perspectives or problem solving approaches; critically evaluates problems, their solutions and implications: (85-100%)

No late penalties will be applied, but since there are assignments due almost every week, it is important that students strive to submit on time since no assignments (except for the final report) will be accepted after the end of week 13 (Friday 30 October).

Calculation of final mark:
Assessment sequencing:
Assessment criteria:
Submission:
Resubmission:
Return of assignments:

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