INSS 1 Article Scrutiny Please read the uploaded article and answer these question.What do you think are the main points that Dr. Winston makes in the arti

INSS 1 Article Scrutiny Please read the uploaded article and answer these question.What do you think are the main points that Dr. Winston makes in the article?What do you believe may have been missed when the methodology as he described it was translated into the Waterfall Methodology?In today’s business world (i.e., the pace of change), what is a major drawback to using the Waterfall Method (SDLC)?Answer them in short answer please and make them as simple writing as you can because I am an international student so do not use academics word MANAGING THE DEVELOPMENT OF LARGE SOFTWARE SYSTEMS
Dr. Winston W. Rovce
INTRODUCTION
l am going to describe my pe,-.~onal views about managing large software developments. I have had
various assignments during the past nit,.: years, mostly concerned with the development of software packages
for spacecraft mission planning, commanding and post-flight analysis. In these assignments I have experienced
different degrees of successwith respect to arriving at an operational state, on-time, and within costs. I have
become prejudiced by my experiences and I am going to relate some of these prejudices in this presentation.
COMPUTER PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT FUNCTIONS
There are two essential steps common to all computer program developments, regardless of size or
complexity. There is first an analysis step, followed second by a coding step as depicted in Figure 1. This sort
of very simple implementation concept is in fact all that is required if the effort is sufficiently small and if the
final product is to be operated by those who built it – as is typically done with computer programs for internal
use. It is also the kind of development effort for which most customers are happy to pay, since both steps
involve genuinely creative work which directly contributes to the usefulness of the final product. An
implementation plan to manufacture 13rger software systems, and keyed only to these steps, however, is doomed
• tofailure. Many additional development steps are required, none contribute as directly to the final product as
analysis and coding, and all drive up the development costs. Customer personnel typically would rather not pay
for them, and development personnel would rather not implement them. The prime function of management
is to sell these concepts to both groups and then enforce compliance on the part of development personnel.
ANALYSIS
CODING
Figure 1. Implementation steps to deliver a small computer program for internal operations.
A more grandiose approach to software development is illustrated in Figure 2. The analysis and coding
steps are still in the picture, but they are preceded by two levels of requirements analysis, are separated by a
program design step, and followed by a testing step. These additions are treated separately from analysis and
coding because they are distinctly different in the way they are executed. They must be planned and staffed
differently for best utilization of program resources.
Figure 3 portrays the iterative relationship between successive development phases for this scheme.
The ordering of steps is based on the following concept: that as each step progresses and the design is further
detailed, there is an iteration with the preceding and succeeding steps but rarely with the more remote steps in
the sequence. The virtue of all of this is that as the design proceeds the change process is scoped down to
manageable limits. At any point in the design process after the requirements analysis is completed there exists
a firm and c~seup~ moving baseline to whi(:h to ~ t u r n in the event of unforeseen design difficulties. What we
have is an effective fallback position that tends to maximize the extent of early work that is salvageable and
preserved.
Reprinted from Proceedings, IEEE WESCON, August 1970, pages 1-9.
Co_pyright © 1_9_70by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Et)gineers,,
Inc. Originally published by TRW.
.328
I
SYSTEM
I
ANALYSIS
PROGRAM
DESIGN
I
coo,.o
TESTING
I OPERATIONS
Figure 2. Implementation steps to develop a large computer program for delivery to a customer.
I believe in this concept, but the implementation described above is risky and invites failure. The
problem is illustrated in Figure 4. The testing phase which occurs at the end of the development cycle is the
first event for which timing, storage, input/output transfers, etc., are experienced as distinguished from
analyzed. These phenomena are not precisely analyzable. They are not the solutions to the standard partial
differential equations of mathematical physics for instance. Yet if these phenomena fail to satisfy the various
external constraints, then invariably a major redesign is required. A simple octal patch or redo of some isolated
code will not fix these kinds of difficulties. The required design changes are likely to be so disruptive that the
software requirements upon which the design is based and which provides the rationale for everything are
violated. Either the requirements must be modified, or a substantial change in the design is required. In effect
the development process has returned to the origin and one can expect up to a lO0-percent overrun in schedule
and/or costs.
One might note that there has been a skipping-over of the analysis and code phases. One cannot, of
course, produce software without these steps, but generally these phases are managed with relative ease and
have little impact on requirements, design, and testing. In my experience there are whole departments
consumed with the analysis of orbit mechanics, spacecraft attitude determination, mathematical optimization
of payload activity and so forth, but when these departments have completed their difficult and complex work,
the resultant program steps involvea few lines of serial arithmetic code. If in the execution of their difficult
and complex work the analysts have made a mistake, the correction is invariably implemented by a minor
change in the code with no disruptive feedback into the other development bases.
However, I believe the illustrated approach to be fundamentally sound. The remainder of this
discussion presents five additional features that must be added to this basic approach to eliminate most of the
development risks.
329
I
SYSTEM !
REQUIREMENTSIBI~
~”‘i
so,w.,~ I
ANALYSIS
~1111~I pRI~OGRAM
~lll I
CODING Ii
TESTING
OPERATIONS
Figure 3. Hopefully,the ~terat=veinteract=onbetweenthe variousphasesis confined to successivesteps.
I
SYSTEM “1
.~oo,.~-,..Sl.,~
I so,w..~ !.
I ANALYSIS
PROGRAM
DESIGN
I
coo,.G I,~
!
TESTING I

I
O.ATO.S!
Figure4. Unfortunately,for the processillustrated,the designiterationsare neverconfined to the successivesteps.
330
STEP 1: PROGRAM DESIGN COMES FIRST
The first step towards a fix is illustrated in Figure 5. A preliminary program design phase has been
inserted between the software requirements generation phase and the analysis phase. This procedure can be
criticized on the basis that the program designer is forced to design in the relative vacuum of initial software
requirements without any existing analysis..As a result, his preliminary design may be substantially in error as
compared to his design if he were to wait until the analysis was complete. This criticism is correct but it misses
the point. By this technique the program designer assures that the software will not fail because of storage,
timing, and data flux reasons. As the analysis proceeds in the succeeding phase the program designer must
impose on the analyst the storage, timing, and operational constraints in such a way that he senses the
consequences. When he justifiably requires more of this kind of resource in order to implement his equations
it must be simultaneously snatched from his analyst compatriots. In this way all the analysts and all the
program designers will contribute to a meaningful design process which will culminate in the proper allocation
of execution time and storage resources. If the total resources to be applied are insufficient or if the embryo
operational design is wrong it will be recognized at this earlier stage and the iteration with requhements and
preliminary design can be redone before final design, coding and test commences.
How is this procedure implemented? The following steps are required.
1) Begin the design process with program designers, not analysts or programmers.
2) Design, define and allocate the data processing modes even at the risk of being wrong. Allocate
processing, functions, design the data base, define data base processing, allocate execution time, define
interfaces and processing modes with the operating system, describe input and output processing, and define
preliminary operating procedures.
3) Write an overview document that is understandable, informative and current. Each and every
worker must have an elemental understanding of the system. At least one person must have a deep understanding of the system which comes partially from having had to write an overview document.
/
ALLOCATE
~
/ sO..oOO,,./
A DESCRIBE
c
%
I
Figure 5. Step 1 : Insure that a preliminary program design is complete before analysis begins.
331
STEP2:
DOCUMENT THE DESIGN
At this point it is appropriate to raise the issue of – ” h o w much documentation?” My own view is
“quite a lot;” certainly more than most programmers, analysts, or program designers are willing to do if left to
their own devices. The first rule of managing software development is ruthless enforcement of documentation
requirements.
Occasionally I am called upon to review the progress of other software design efforts. My first step is
to investigate the state of the documentation, If the documentation is in serious default my first
recommendation is simple. Replace project management. Stop all activities not related to documentation.
Bring the documentation up to acceptable standards. Management of software is simply impossible w i t h o u t a
very high degree of documentation. As an example, let me offer the following estimates for comparison. In
order to procure a 5 million dollar hardware device, I would expect that a 30 page specification would provide
adequate detail to control the procurement. In order to procure5 million dollars of software I w o u l d estimate
~ 1[,00 pa~e specification is about right in order to achieve comparable control,
Why so much documentation?
1) Each designer must communicate with interfacing designers, with his management and possibly
with thecustorner. A verbal record is too intangible to provide an adequate basis for an interface or managementdecision. An acceptable written description forces the designer to take an unequivocal position and
provide tangible evidence of completion. It prevents the designer from hiding behind t h e – ” l
am90-percent
finished” – syndrome month after month.
2) During the early phase of software development the documentation i.sthe specification and i._~.sthe
design. Until coding begins these three nouns (documentation, specification, design) d e n o t e a s i n g t e t h i n g . If
the documentation is bad the design is bad. If the documentation does not yet exist there is as yet no design,
only people thinking and talking about the design which is of some value, but not much.
3) The real monetary value of good documentation begins downstream in the development process
during the testing phase and continues through operations and redesign. The value of documentation can be
described in terms of three concrete, tangible situations that every program manager faces.
a) During the testing phase, with good documentation the manager can concentrate personnel on the
mistakes in the program. Without good documentation every mistake, large or small, is analyzed by one man
who probably made the mistake in the first place because he is the only man who understands the program area.
b) During the operational phase, with good documentation the manager can use operation-oriented
personnel to operate the program and to do a better job, cheaper. Without good documentation the software
must be operated by those who built it. Generally these people are relatively disinterested in operations and do
not do as effective a job as operations-oriented personnel. It should be pointed out in this connection that in
an operational situation, if there is some hangup the software is always blamed first. In order either to absolve
the software or to fix the blame, the software documentation must speak clearly.
c) Following initial operations, when system improvements are in order, good documentation permits
effective redesign, updating, and retrofitting in the field. If documentation does not exist, generally the entire
existing framework of operating software must be junked, even for relatively modest changes.
Figure 6 shows a documentation plan which is keyed to the steps previously shown. Note that six
documents are produced, and at the time of delivery of the final product, Documents No, 1, No. 3, No. 4,
No. 5, and No. 6 are updated and current.
332
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