GCOM 767

Rapid Application Development

Fall 1998

Course Description | Resources | Course Grading | Class Schedule | Tasks & Deliverables

INSTRUCTOR:	Ryan Nelson
OFFICE:	339 Monroe Hall
OFFICE HOURS:	MW 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. and by appointment
PHONE NUMBER:	924-7587
E-MAIL:	RNELSON @ VIRGINIA.EDU

I. Course Description

"Software developers are caught on the horns of a dilemma. ... One horn of the dilemma is that people don't have time to learn more about rapid development; the other horn is that they won't get the time until they do learn more about rapid development." -- Steve McConnell, Rapid Development

The overall objective of this course is to develop a thorough understanding of strategies, techniques, and best practices for the rapid development of information systems. Specific topics will include risk management, estimation, scheduling, productivity tools, and team management. Learning will be accomplished through assigned reading, class discussion, and hands-on use of state-of-the-art technology. The principle deliverable for this course will be the project plan for an Internet start-up venture used throughout the 1998-99 MS/MIS program.

Prerequisites: COMM 427 (or equivalent), and graduate standing.

Co-requisites: GCOM 781/785

II. Resources

Rapid Development, by Steve McConnell, Microsoft Press, 1996.
A subscription to Computerworld: (800) 343-6474 (Note: be sure to tell them that you are a student! ... 39 issues for $18). http://www.computerworld.com/
In addition, students are expected to read IT-related publications (e.g., Computerworld, Information Week, etc.) and “surf the Net” for information relevant to GCOM 767 on a weekly basis.

III. Course Grading

Final grade will be computed as follows:

	Percentages
a. Participation	25%
b. Case Analysis	25%
c. Project Plan	50%

IV. Class Schedule (Date last modified: October 06, 1998 ... recent changes in red)

Week	Topic(s)	Reading	Deliverable(s)
9/7	Introduction to Course Core Issues in Rapid Development	McConnell Ch. 1-4, 6-7 & 24	Team Proposal (9/10)
9/14	Team Management	McConnell Ch. 11-13
9/21	Risk Management Career Day (9/25)	McConnell Ch. 5
9/28	Estimation & Scheduling	McConnell Ch. 8, 9, 26, 27 & 39
10/5	Productivity Tools & Project Recovery	McConnell Ch. 15 & 16	Case Analysis (10/14, 10:00 a.m.)
10/12	Fall Reading Break CMIT Program (10/16)
10/19	Best Practices in RAD	McConnell Ch. 18, 20, 21, 24, 28, 30, 31, 36, 37, 38, 42 & 43	Project Plan (10/23, 5:00)

V. Description of Tasks and Deliverables

a. Participation

Participation will be evaluated on the basis of quality of verbal contributions made to each class. Grades will range from 0-100.

b. Case Analysis

Each student, working individually, will analyze a real world case scenario (the rapid development of an on-line Career Services application) and make recommendations to management on how to develop the proposed system using the rapid development concepts and techniques covered in this course. The objective will be to come up with a succinct set of recommendations that cover as many relevant areas of RAD as possible (e.g., team management, risk management, lifecycle planning, estimation and scheduling), within the context of this particular case scenario.

Assumptions

The application system will be built using technology currently available in the McIntire School of Commerce (e.g., Oracle, PowerBuilder, and Web-based technologies).
Each student will assume the role of Project Manager.
You should propose a project team consisting of team members selected from the pool of thirty students in our class (note: you do not need to confer with anyone else in the class in forming your team).
All team members will be assigned to the project on a full-time basis (i.e., there will not be any significant competition for time, such as other projects/classes).
You will not need to do any additional data collection in the preparation of your recommendations.

The deliverable will be a memorandum to Ryan Nelson, Partner. Memoranda will be evaluated based on both content (i.e., appropriate coverage of RAD concepts and techniques) and quality of presentation (secondary criterion). Caveat: it is expected that you will provide a level of analysis appropriate at the planning stage of a project; you are not expected to develop a working prototype!

c. Project

Each team will be responsible for developing a "new venture" (e.g., Internet start-up company, intranet application, or business-to-business application) from an idea to the prototype/business plan stage. Each project is required to make extensive use of the suite of technologies taught in the MS/MIS curriculum (e.g., Oracle 8, Oracle Application Server, PL/SQL, Visual Age for Java, COMNET, FrontPage 98, ERwin, BPwin, Rational Rose, and Microsoft Project).

Team Proposal

A brief e-mail to Ryan Nelson containing the names of up to four members of the class that want to work together on the project. Final team assignments will be made on Monday, 9/14.

Project Tasks and Deliverables

Project Web Site (Example)

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Date last modified: October 06, 1998