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Software Engineering
Gary Cort was a group leader at Los Alamos National Lab when he taught this course. He learned a lot of this working at NASA and told us many stories about his prior lives. He taught his class as a simulation, where we played the roles of software developers bidding on, then performing a contract, while he played the role of the customer. He had a wonderful knack of playing different roles in class. When he had is teacher hat on, he was one of the most patient insightful teachers that I've ever had the pleasure of taking a course from. In the simulation, when he put his customer hat on, he was one of the most hard-ass sons-of-a-**** that I've ever done business with. It was wonderful.
These are the notes that I sent to a bunch of friends while I was taking the class. Some of their responses are also here.
1. Class introduction: Why do we manage software? How do we manage it?
Greg Shannon's comments
My response to Greg's comments
Charley Braun's comments on process management.
My response to Charley's comments.
3. Measurements. You gotta do them.
4. Inspections. How to inspect. Among other things, this is a really good way to measure quality.
Generic Rules for Documents. Use these when inspecting any type of document.
5. Inspections 2. Why and what to inspect.
Frank Hummer's question about testing and inspection.
Someone's question about IEEE documents. (I think this was Greg Shannon.)
6. Configuration Management: Who decides what changes to make?
7. Requirements Documents: What goes in them.
8. Various topics: Documenting customer meetings. Tiger Traps. How to run a meeting with your customer. Phased implementation. Production vs. prototype. Documentation..
9. More various topics: Documenting Designs.Complexity. Test Design.
11. Various topics: How to keep Configuration Management from becoming a bureaucratic nightmare. Metrics, more on what to measure.
12. Various topics: Communicating with customers about requirements.Performance Recognition. How to add new people to a project.
13. Wrap-up after project post-mortem. Who should assume which risks? Stay focussed. Process Improvement. Teamwork.Processes vs. Procedures.
My final exam to the email group.(The real class didn't have an exam.)
Randy Harris' answer to my final exam.
Ryan Knowles wrote the first version of this website. Thanks, Ryan.