System Modeling Theory: Scrum vs. Plan-Based Software Development Strategies
Assignment 1: Scrum vs. Plan-Based Software Development Strategies
Due Week 2 and worth 100 points
You are the lead software engineer at a large educational institution consisting of twenty three (23) campuses located across the Midwestern United States. Your team has been asked to spearhead an effort to implement a new software program that will serve as a centralized student information center for all of your online students. This system is being designed to reduce the cost of managing students’ information and to automate the processes associated with this information. The total online enrollment currently stands at 10,000 students. As the project manager you will need to decide whether to utilize the Scrum approach to project management or a more conventional, plan-based approach.
Write a three to five (3-5) page paper in which you:
Describe your approach in managing this project through both a Scrum-based approach and a plan-based software engineering approach.
Identify how to address the most challenging aspects of this software development project under both approaches and describe how to address such challenges to ensure a successful outcome.
Develop a visual rendering of each approach using Microsoft Visio or its open source alternative, Dia. Note: The graphically depicted solution is not included in the required page length.
Evaluate the effectiveness of a Scrum approach compared to a plan-based approach based on the following factors:
Planning the allocation of people to projects
Estimating the cost of projects
Maintaining team cohesion
Managing changes in project team membership
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
Include charts or diagrams created in Visio or an equivalent such as Dia. The completed diagrams / charts must be imported into the Word document before the paper is submitted.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
Summarize the competitive advantages software engineering presents to organizations.
Evaluate the issues and challenges associated with software engineering.
Describe the role of Agile methods in software engineering projects.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in software engineering.
Write clearly and concisely about software engineering using proper writing mechanics and technical style conventions.
Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic / organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric.
System Modeling Theory: scrum vs. plan-based software development strategies
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Background
Software development projects integrate complex and connected activities to achieve a common goal while being based on a budget, particular time. The team members consider the cost implication and specific needs of the project. The plan based approach is the traditional software development methodology while Scrum is a new approach that emphasizes collaboration and communication among team members during the software development process. Planning ensures success in software development and for the Scrum approach the planning is more intense for the initial Sprints.
Scrum-based approach and the plan-based software engineering
The scrum-based approach focused on dividing the projects into manageable sprints, with team members working to finish specific aspects of the project within a stipulated time. The product owner, scrum master and team members all have roles to play. The project team members all meet after the sprints are completed as they evaluate progress and decide on the next course of action (Laplante, 2013). The scrum methodology differs from other approaches since analysis in project direction looks into the completed work rather than trying to forecast what ought to have been completed. The approach requires planning and reviewing of work progress to avoid disrupting the workflow schedule. The Agile software development methodologies such as Scrum emphasize an incremental approach unlike the traditional methods that are more sequential.
The plan-based software engineering approaches emphasize plan-driven strategies to developing a software product while prioritizing planning including the tasks, deliverables and dependencies of such tasks. The case for strict adherence to planning is that changes can alter the project architecture. This differs from Scrum when there is no need for elaborate planning in the initial stages of software development since the methodology integrates changes over time. The three common options for the plan-based software development approaches are the waterfall model, incremental model and V-shaped model.
Challenging aspects of this software development project
As an agile methodology, the Scrum approach presents challenges on how to manage the teams, especially with regards to perceptions about roles. The teams have to adopt a new culture and there is less certainty about the decision-making process when the changes are adopted (Laplante, 2013). There is a need for improve collaboration efforts among team members for changes to be implemented. This is necessary to reduce errors and coordinate activities while making strategic decisions. The scale of the project is huge and the software program containing ...
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