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Coping With Change in Software Project Development

Coping with change in software project

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Natty Gold
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
336 views

Coping With Change in Software Project Development

Coping with change in software project

Uploaded by

Natty Gold
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Coping with change in Software Project Development

Change is inevitable in all large software projects. The system requirements


change as the business procuring the system responds to external pressures and
management priorities change. As new technologies become available, new
design and implementation possibilities emerge. Therefore, whatever software
process model is used, it is essential that it can accommodate changes to the
software being developed.

Change adds to the costs of software development because it usually means that
work that has been completed has to be redone. This is called rework.

Two Ways of Coping with Change and Changing System Requirements

1. System prototyping, where a version of the system or part of the system


is developed quickly to check the customer’s requirements and the
feasibility of some design decisions. This supports change avoidance as it
allows users to experiment with the system before delivery and so refine
their requirements. The number of requirements change proposals made
after delivery is therefore likely to be reduced.
2. Incremental delivery, where system increments are delivered to the
customer for comment and experimentation. This supports both change
avoidance and change tolerance. It avoids the premature commitment to
requirements for the whole system and allows changes to be incorporated
into later increments at relatively low cost.

Advantages/Pros of Prototyping

1. System prototypes allow users to see how well the system supports their
work. They may get new ideas for requirements, and find areas of strength
and weakness in the software.
2. As prototype is developed, it may reveal errors and omissions in the
requirements that have been proposed.

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3. A system prototype may be used while the system is being designed to
carry out design experiments to check the feasibility of a proposed design.
4. Prototyping is also an essential part of the user interface design process.

Disadvantages/Cons of Prototyping

1. Prototype may not necessarily be used in the same way as the final system.
2. The tester of the prototype may not be typical of system users.
3. The training time during prototype evaluation may be insufficient.

Advantages/Pros of Incremental Delivery

1. Customers can use the early increments as prototypes and gain experience
that informs their requirements for later system increments. Unlike
prototypes, these are part of the real system so there is no re-learning when
the complete system is available.
2. Customers do not have to wait until the entire system is delivered before
they can gain value from it. The first increment satisfies their most critical
requirements so they can use the software immediately.
3. The process maintains the benefits of incremental development in that it
should be relatively easy to incorporate changes into the system.
4. As the highest-priority services are delivered first and increments then
integrated, the most important system services receive the most testing.
This means hat customers are less likely to encounter software failures in
the most important parts of the system.

Disadvantages/Cons of Incremental Delivery

1. Most systems require a set of basic facilities that are used by different parts
of the system. As requirements are not defined in detail until an increment
is to be implemented, it can be hard to identify common facilities that are
needed by all increments.

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2. Iterative/Incremental development can also be difficult when a
replacement system is being developed. Users want all of the functionality
of the old system and are often unwilling to experiment with an incomplete
new system. Therefore, getting useful customer feedback is difficult.
3. In the incremental approach, there is no complete system specification
until the final increment is specified. This create conflict in the
procurement model of many organizations, where the complete system
specification is part of the system development contract.

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