Essay Collection 2011

Abstract:Development of information technologies offers us besides software which facilitates our work also software designed for relaxation and fun. The group undoubtedly includes entertainment software and games. Their current user does not intend to be around as they were developed or how they work. For him is necessary just to take relaxed or whether game entertained him. Certainly he does not intend for what their development costs and how much risk the development of the game entails. As well as in other software projects, in the development most of the games there is a team that should be also managed and that brings a variety of risks and problems. In his essay, I want to address the issue of risk in developing games. I would like to reflect on the need to manage risks and to develop games and also the fact which of these risks are important and how to minimize their occurrence.

Abstract:Every day we meet with the tasks we need to do, with tasks that help us move forward. Some of us even hold our own notebooks of these tasks, so that we do not forget to assign some of our precious time to these tasks. It is likely the same thing with project management, except for the fact that we have plenty of additional time in the form of human resources. If we attempt to finish a large enough project without such a notebook, or in this case project support tools, then this project will fail or it will at least be a total disaster. Then we start to think about the project and begin to look for signs of mistakes we made, but in the end we realize that if had such a project notebook, it would have probably gone much better off and moreover we would be able to identify the mistakes we made. However in case we use these project support tools in a blind way and forget the fact that every project is, thanks to the people involved, an organic system of itself, these tools can be the very reason for the project to fail. Therefore it is essential to use a common sense and sometimes to have a little experience on our shoulders as well. In my essay I try to discuss the mentioned problem of overestimating the tools and underestimating the human factor, while trying to aim at entertainment software projects, computer games.

Abstract:In today’s world plans, as part of everyday life, are viewed negatively. Many times they don’t work out and so it is hard to find a motivation to plan. We can see similar phenomenon in development of software systems. Developers often avoid planning because of experience with bad plans that went wrong. But where is the line between good and bad plan? First of all this essay concerns what makes a bad plan bad, whether it is not really fault of persons who created the plan and blindly followed it. I try to find differences between plan viewed as a dogma, plan viewed as evaluation and a plan viewed as a tool. I concentrate on positives and negatives of these views. In the end essay discusses whether there are mechanics to create a plan, that would be suitable for these views.

Abstract:Computer games represent a specific type of software system. Due to their distinctive character, dynamic expand and progress they have made till now, their complexity grows as well and the quality assurance issue becomes more and more important. On the quality of a game as software product depends also its final position on the game industry market. In this essay I present the exploratory testing as an alternative approach to the standard testing methods and I describe the benefits of its use in computer game testing. I describe the importance of defining the priorities of stated requirements, which are the basis for defining the bug priorities. The exploratory testing is just that approach, which takes all of these priorities into account and in some cases is therefore more efficient and convenient than classic scripted testing.

Abstract:Testing plays an important role in software quality management. Prompt bug discovery helps the project to keep up with the schedule. Still, testers do not get enough respect from developers, who think of them as of a thorn in their eye. In an ideal environment testers would only find bugs in rare critical and extreme situations. However, in our real world, testers have to face new bugs and error, that emerge due to misunderstanding or underestimation each day. This essay points out different views at the work of testers with the goal to highlight unusual factors on tester efficacy, especially on manual testing.

Abstract:A basic prerequisite for accurate results is communication. This essay specializes on communication in software teams. Where the project goal is unclear, or it’s output, too much unnecessary communication arises in order to define the final product. Each communication has a time duration that could have been used on developing itself instead. Talk is about common communication, face to face or electronic, interactive or non-interactive. Here the questions arise. What can such communication bring to the team? Which forms of communications are effective, and which ones are undesired? How can communication affect the team? The essay discusses the different effects of communication on the final product as well as the different types of electronic communication.

Abstract:There is not successful project, which would dispense with management, but how to manage the project without information? The bigger project is the lesser is possibility of manager obtaining necessary information himself straight from the source and it is therefore a need for support tools to enable the manager to obtain required information. Currently there are support tools that help in managing all aspects of the project possible, whether the task management, human resources management, reporting errors, or various others. This essay is about role of support tools in software project management process, with particular emphasis on monitoring tasks and human resources. There are different types of support tools that assist in various aspects of management, but also directly in carrying out tasks. But are those tools always only benefit for us? Are these support tools as important for small team of five people as they are for large project which involves hundreds of people? The essay deals with this, and thus comparing the suitability of the supporting tools for different size projects and team size.

Abstract:The development of software products is often a very complicated activity. Many people who fulfill various assignments take part in it. To finish the project successfully it is necessary to monitor the development of software. Software project monitoring is an important action, mainly from the management and planning points of view. It can progress through various monitoring methods which take into consideration several metrics. In this work I will try to mention the advantages of such methods which belong among the most used ones. They are Software Monitoring Framework and Earned Value Analysis. I will show the means to approach the monitoring and present metrics used for acquiring of necessary indexes. In conclusion, I will try to compare these methods and to suggest the way and measure of their application for software project monitoring.

Abstract:To finalize the project of development of information system to the successful end and meet all requirements from customer in the agreed deadline is very serious and complicated task. The development of information system goes through many phases, where can expected and unexpected hazardous events appear, where the company which is developing the software can lose time, wherewithal but also goodwill of the company. Many times are for the projects the biggest risk factor people – but this is not subject of this essay and I will not consider it here. I will explain what the risks are, the management of risks, I will get near to the theory and to the explanation of the scheme used in risk management. I will engage the customer like a risk where I will explain how customer can be risk for the project. And I will also consider employees like a risk where I will analyse how employees endanger the contract for the project, the development process and the profit from success.

Abstract:Every Human being is different. This difference can be seen in different products of the same creative activity of the two different persons. We find an answer for the question, why are we different. The personal distinction tries to be characterized by Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. We describe one specific developer. Also we describe the specific parts of software development and find answers which people should work in these parts. These descriptions are enriched by real examples from the life of mentioned developer. At the end we try to find an answer how to get relationships among developers to be better and if it is necessary to choose workers also by theirs type indicators.

Abstract:Planning of time is essential not only for software projects. We plan our time every day therefore we should be experts in time planning. But we know, it is not so. A lot of psychological studies indicate that optimism in prediction of task completion times is common. I will describe this phenomenon and I will discuss it in relation with software projects, where deadlines and estimates are necessary. One method, which tries to solve consequences of this phenomenon, is evidence based scheduling. In this method estimated and actual hours needed for task completion are recorded. Every developer can find out his inaccuracy and improve his estimates in the future. Managers will get real estimates of project completion date from this method. If they also use concept of two plans customer will get achievable plan, which takes into account possible problems.

Abstract:There is no doubt about importance of leading personalities in the team. This position affects the team as a whole and determines its vision. It is therefore necessary to consider a very good choice of a suitable candidate. To support this decision there are a multitude of procedures and methodologies, some of which are well known. Myers-Briggs type indicator describes sixteen types of personalities, of which only some are suitable for leadership positions. Applying this typology we can quite accurately determine the character traits of individual team members and identify suitable candidates for leadership. It is also important what kind of people, what types of personalities are behind the team leader and support him. The rest of the team can often compensate problems using their attitude and behavior deficiencies, which are reflected in the team leader. The aim of the essay is to highlight the ways which other members, or their personality types can affect the team leader.

Abstract:There is only few projects which finishes exactly the same as they are expected. In the time limit, without exceeding the budget and with providing sufficient quality. On the contrary, a lot of the projects finish with slightly overrun budget or time. And even this case is the one of the better. Why is it so? It is because of "unexpected" events and their consequences. In the most cases, these unexpected events can be expected and they should be expected. The challenge is to identify risks in software projects, especially those which often are neglected but still they are important in development. The paper also deals with the causes of improper planning and other interesting risk of software project development. The aim of this paper is also to answer the question whether prevention of possible risks is effective or even possible, and in which situations it is so.