Philip Laplante

What Every Engineer Should Know about Software Engineering

THE PROFESSION OF SOFTWARE ENGINEERING Introduction Software Engineering as an Engineering Profession Standards and Certifications Misconceptions about Software Engineering Further Reading SOFTWARE PROPERTIES, PROCESSES, AND STANDARDS Introduction Characteristics of Software Software Processes and Methodologies Software Standards Further Reading SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS SPECIFICATION Introduction Requirements Engineering Concepts Requirements Specifications Requirements Elicitation Requirements Modeling Requirements Documentation Recommendations on Requirements Further Reading DESIGNING SOFTWARE Introduction Software Design Concepts Software Design Modeling Pattern-Based Design Design Documentation Further Reading BUILDING SOFTWARE Introduction Programming Languages Software Construction Tools Becoming a Better Code Developer Further Reading SOFTWARE QUALITY ASSURANCE Introduction Quality Models and Standards Software Testing Metrics Fault Tolerance Maintenance and Reusability Further Reading MANAGING SOFTWARE PROJECTS AND SOFTWARE ENGINEERS Introduction Software Engineers Are People Too Project Management Basics Tracking and Reporting Progress Software Cost Estimation Project Cost Justification Risk Management Further Reading THE FUTURE OF SOFTWARE ENGINEERING Introduction Open Source Outsourcing and Offshoring Global Software Development Further Reading APPENDIX A: SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS FOR A WASTEWATER PUMPING STATION WET WELL CONTROL SYSTEM (REV. 01.01.00) Introduction Overall Description Specific Requirements References APPENDIX B: SOFTWARE DESIGN FOR A WASTEWATER PUMPING STATION WET WELL CONTROL SYSTEM (REV. 01.01.00) Introduction Overall Description Design Decomposition References APPENDIX C: OBJECT MODELS FOR A WASTEWATER PUMPING STATION WET WELL CONTROL SYSTEM INDEX

Remember the human element in IT project management

The human element is one of the most important but frequently overlooked aspects of managing IT projects. IT managers too frequently view themselves as only technical managers, forgetting that human nature enters into technical situations. Various issues in leadership theory apply to managing IT professionals. I discuss various types of management styles, but the theme that always prevails is that no matter what type of style or combination of styles you choose, set reasonable expectations and strive to keep team members involved.

Be more familiar with our enemies and pave the way forward: A review of the roles bugs played in software failures

Abstract There has been an increasing frequency of failures due to defective software that cost millions of dollars. Recent high profile incidents have drawn increased attention to the risks of failed software systems to the public. Yet aside from the Therac-25 case, very few incidents of software failure causing humans harm have been proven and widely reported. With increased government oversight and the expanded use of social networking for real time reporting of problems, we are only beginning to understand the potential for major injury or death related to software failures. However, debugging defective software can be costly and time consuming. Moreover, undetected bugs could induce great harm to the public when software systems are applied in safety-critical areas, such as consumer products, public infrastructure, transportation systems, etc. Therefore, it is vital that we remove these bugs as early as possible. To gain more understanding of the nature of these bugs, we review the reported software failures that have impacted the health, safety, and welfare of the public. A focus on lessons learned and implications for future software systems is also provided which acts as guidelines for engineers to improve the quality of their products and avoid similar failures from happening.

Review and Analysis of Software Development Team Communication Research

Research problem: Communication affects many aspects of the software engineering process. In addition, poor team communication is often a root cause of failure for complex engineering projects. In global software engineering, communication and coordination become more challenging, and that fact affects the quality of the product. The goal of this study is to analyze the type and quality of research performed on software development team communication, and to present data to guide future research in these areas. Research questions: (1) How much communication research activity in the area of software development teams has been described in the literature from 2005 to 2015? (2) What is the current state of software development team communication research (what has been done and to what degree)? (3) What is the predominant research methodology of software development team communication research? (4) Where are the gaps in the current state of software development team communication research? (5) What are the major, common findings about communication in software development teams? Methodology: We reviewed 184 journal papers and performed a content analysis of the keywords from the relevant papers to create a software engineering team research taxonomy. We utilized this taxonomy to categorize the context of communication research papers. We then used the categorization results to determine the most active software development team communication research areas. In addition, we analyzed the quality of the journals (using impact factor and H-index as metrics) and the type of research performed in these areas (i.e., qualitative, quantitative, survey, social network analysis, or literature review). Results and conclusions: The results showed that the most active software development team communication research areas are global software development, project effectiveness, and effective teamwork. The most prevalent research methodology is a survey among those research areas. We conclude this paper with a presentation and discussion of the major findings of each research paper as well as the common themes among those findings in each of the top research areas.