Hi everybody I am a project manager with a mid level software development company Some days back I came across a posting in a forum where a person otherwise a competent finance professional wanted to know about basics of software development process.
This got me thinking In todays world of multitasking it is not rare to see people from different professional backgrounds converge and collaborate But there seems to be pain involved in this Why Because as I see it todays highly focused professional education is creating people with one-dimensional capabilities.
So when two such guys meet more often than not it is a trial and error sort of on-the-job-learning (they can not really go back to school can they) leading to much heartburn and consequent delays cost overruns errors rework and lowering of confidence in otherwise very capable people.
I am writing this series of software development basics to help people especially non-IT professionals understand the way IT projects work Please do chip in with more inputs.
Lets start with the basics It cannot be emphasized enough that a detailed and intelligent process is a must if you are developing software Process means a guideline description of a repeatable procedure that describes the way that your organization develops software It also defines your organization because it is the process that will be applied to the development of future projects.
Since Indian companies are choice of most organizations wanting to develop software it would be wise to emulate their process as it is the foundation stone of their providing high quality work at almost half the usual cost Therefore following is a little glimpse of typical process employed by the leading Indian companies like Infosys
BrickRed Wipro etc.
Domain Analysis
It is usually the first step in attempting to design a new piece of software It involves the investigation of the area such as: banking marketing retailing insurance etc where the software is to be employed.
Know Thy Client
The holy grail of any project satisfy your client For that you need to know what is in his mind regarding his requirements He is the best person to tell you what they want While skilled and experienced software engineers can fill in any incomplete ambiguous or contradictory information.
Specification
Specification means precisely describing the software to be written in a rigorous way.
Software architecture
The architecture of a software system refers to an abstract representation of that system Architecture is concerned with making sure the software system will meet the requirements of the product as well as ensuring that future requirements can be addressed.
Implementation (or coding)
Reducing a design to code may be the most obvious part of the software engineering job but it is not necessarily the largest portion.
Testing
Testing of parts of software is done by a software engineer to check out any bug or error.
Documentation
An important (and often overlooked) task is documenting the internal design of software for the purpose of future maintenance and enhancement.
In my next posting I will discuss methodologies adopted to successfully develop and implement software projects I hope this posting though not enough by any stretch of imagination should give the beginners a little something.
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