Library System Evaluation

How a Real Project Would Be Done Differently

If this was a project done in a large software development company, there would be a few things done differently. One change would be to incorporate a better leadership group and have them take over the meetings. This would have better delineated or given better boundaries to the different sections of code and documentation. In addition, it would allow the leaders to "pass down" decisions made, removing the problem of having persons with high aspirations and low work ability, as well as removing verbose explanations to simple problems.

Another change would be to structure a work plan at the start of the semester and stick to that plan so that differing parts of the projects would not catch us off guard. In addition, the work plan would permit a scheduling of meetings where all members would be in attendance, greatly improving the organization of the development process. This would permit the elimination of the division of documentation and code between project members. The progress of the other sections could be more closely monitored by all members until completion. By keeping everyone more informed, the documentation would not be fragmented and the code would contain compatible modules. This would eliminate the need to try to find another project member to confirm how the other modules worked or how the other sections of the documentation was written. By spending more time on the actual task rather than trying to figure out how to approach it, the efficiency of producing the module would greatly increase and result in more compatible code.

In addition, approaching the initial coding stage with an organized plan would have produced an early semi-working version of the system rather than hard coding immediately and attempting to make it all work at once. Also, it would prevent coders from worrying about the less important features, such as extra bells and whistles, and help the coders to focus on the basics. This organization would have made the task easier for the coders and permitted the testers to provide feedback earlier in the process.

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