UNIVERSITY OF MAURITIUS
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
SECOND SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS
MAY 2012
PROGRAMME MSc Software Engineering Projects and Management
MODULE NAME Software Project Management
DATE Tuesday MODULE CODE CSE 6209
15 May 2012
TIME 13:30 – 16:30 Hrs DURATION 3 hours
NO. OF 4 NO. OF QUESTIONS 3
QUESTIONS SET TO BE ATTEMPTED
INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
There are 2 Sections in this paper: Section A and Section B.
Section A consists of One (1) Compulsory Question.
Answer any Two (2) Questions from Section B.
SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT – CSE 6209
SECTION A [COMPULSORY]
Question 1
Microsoft Meets the Challenge — Internet Explorer
Consider Microsoft and its development of Internet Explorer. In the Internet’s early
years, small, nimble competitors such as Netscape and Yahoo! established leading
positions — in part, through highly flexible development techniques. In late 1995, many
analysts thought Microsoft would be another incumbent that stumbled when faced with
a disruptive innovation in its core business. Microsoft had been slow to recognize the
potential of the Internet and was considered at least a generation behind Netscape in
browser technology. Yet in the course of one project, Microsoft succeeded in making up
the ground and introducing a product — Internet Explorer 3.0 — that many considered
the equal of Netscape’s offering. To a great extent, the achievement relied on the
Explorer team’s development process. (See “The Development of Internet Explorer 3.0.”)
Internet Explorer 3.0 (IE3) was Microsoft’s first browser release with a major internal-
development component. The project started on Nov. 1, 1995, with the white paper
“How We Get 30% Market Share in One Year.” A small team started putting together the
initial specifications, which were released to Microsoft’s development partners on Dec. 7.
The project was designated a “companywide emergency.” As one IE3 manager
explained it, the designation meant that “if you were smart and had time on your hands,
you should help out the IE3 team.
Given that we have a bunch of people here who are incredibly smart, we got a lot of
great help. People realized this was a group that was going to determine what their stock
was worth.” During December, detailed coding of the individual modules started. But
the IE3 team was still making decisions about the overall product architecture —
decisions that would not only affect the features in the final product but also the
development process itself. A team member explained, “We had a large number of
people who would have to work in parallel to meet the target ship date. We therefore
had to develop an architecture where we could have separate component teams feed into
the product. Not all of these teams were necessarily inside the company. The investment
in architectural design was therefore critical. In fact, if someone asked what the most
successful aspect of IE3 was, I would say it was the job we did in ‘componentizing’ the
product.”
The first integration of the new component modules into a working system occurred in
the first week of March 1996. Although only about 30% of the final functionality was
included in IE3 at that point, it was enough to get meaningful feedback on how the
product worked. It also provided a base-line product, or alpha version, that could be
handed to Microsoft’s development partners. From that point on, the team instituted a
process of “daily builds,” which integrated new code into a complete product every day.
Once new code was “checked in” (integrated into the master version), getting
performance feedback through a series of automated tests typically took less than three
hours. With the rapid feedback cycle, the team could add new functionality to the
product, test the impact of each feature and make suitable adjustments to the design.
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SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT – CSE 6209
Question 1 [Cont’d]
In mid-April, Microsoft distributed the first beta version of IE3 to the general public.
That version included about 50% to 70% of the final functionality in the product. A
second beta version followed in June and included 70% to 90% of IE’s final functionality.
The team used the beta versions (as well as the alpha version) to gather feedback on bugs
and on possible new features. Customers had a chance to influence the design at a time
that the development team had the flexibility to respond. A significant proportion of the
design changes made after the first beta release resulted from direct customer feedback.
Some of the changes introduced features that were not even present in the initial design
specification.
The cycle of new-feature development and daily integration continued frenetically
through the final weeks of the project. As one program manager said, “We tried to freeze
the external components of the design three weeks before we shipped. In the end, it
wasn’t frozen until a week before. There were just too many things going on that we had
to respond to…but, critically, we had a process that allowed us to do it.
(Source: Product-Development Practices That Work: How Internet Companies Build Software,
MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW)
(a) What is a software process model? According to you, what kind of process model
is being used for the development of the Internet Explorer?
[10 Marks]
(b) Design a Gantt chart with appropriate milestones illustrating the development
process of Internet Explorer.
[10 Marks]
(c) Referring to the development of the Internet Explorer, describe the type of testing
harnessed by the team.
[6 Marks]
(d) As a project manager, prepare the Problem Statement for the Vision and Scope
Document of the Internet Explorer 3.0 development project.
[14 Marks]
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SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT – CSE 6209
SECTION B
Answer Any Two (2) Questions
Question 2
(a) When referring to project schedule concepts, distinguish between slack and
overhead schedules with regards to software project management.
[6 Marks]
(b) Team management has always been criticized to be complex and tedious. Using
appropriate examples, describe effective means of managing a team?
[18 Marks]
(c) Why is it important for project managers to show senior managers the impact of
their decisions? [6 Marks]
Question 3
(a) Suppose a Management Information System is to be implemented for a
University, explain how you would evaluate the qualitative and quantitative risks
involved in such an implementation as project manager. [20 Marks]
(b) Positive risks can be beneficial for an organisation. Define positive risks and
elaborate the various response strategies for such risks.
[10 Marks]
Question 4
(a) What are the problems associated with system building? Support your answer
using suitable examples. [12 Marks]
(b) A statement of work (SOW) is a description of the work required for the
procurement. Many contracts, or mutually binding agreements, include SOW’s. A
good SOW gives bidders a better understanding of the buyer’s expectations.
Describe the criteria to be taken into consideration as an effective SOW template.
[8 Marks]
(c) Many people are struggling with how to increase and diversify the IT labour pool.
Noted problems include:
The fact that many IT professionals work long hours and must constantly
stay abreast of changes in the field.
Undesirable stereotypes that keep certain people (for example, women)
away from the career field.
The need to improve benefits, redefine work hours and incentives, and
provide better human resource management.
What is intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and discuss how it can be beneficial in
enhancing productivity in a software project team.
[10 Marks]
END OF QUESTION PAPER
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