ITECH 7415

Masters Project

Dr Roopdeep Kaur

Lecture 1 – Introduction to Masters Project

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ABOUT Masters Project

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Master’s Project
 Master’s project is a 60-credit single-semester project
 Students work in a team of 3-5 students
 Work with a genuine business client in a real business problem
 Supervised by a relevant expert
 Can be steam specific or multi-stream projects
 combined projects for both Software Engineering (SE) and Enterprise
Systems & Business Analytics (EB) students
 Projects can be specifically for Software Engineering (SE) or Enterprise
Systems & Business Analytics (EB) students
What is project all about?
 Intended to emulate a real-life project experience

 Opportunities to encounter the challenges involved in doing

real-time project, including project planning and management,
working under constraints, meeting deadlines, uncertainty (risk
and change management)
 Way to improve effective communication among team members
and with client.
 Enhancing research skills and implementing industry standards.

 Problem-based self-learning and research

 Project and Research

 ITECH 7415 is built upon three cycles of design science

research [1,2]*

• * The word “design” is replaced with word “project” , from the original document, to avoid any confusion between EB and SE students
Three Cycles
 The Relevance Cycle bridges the contextual environment of the project
with the project activities.
- Clients requirements, feasibility study, client’s feedback, testing

 The Rigor Cycle connects the project activities with the knowledge base
of scientific foundations, experience, and expertise.
- State-of-the-art methodologies, tools, techniques, standards related to
project activities [Requires intensive research to review existing body of
knowledge]

 The central Project Cycle iterates between the core activities of building
and evaluating the artefacts (or products) and processes in the project.
- Refining and revising project artefacts using information from the other
two cycles.
Project Attributes

Four-credits single-semester project by 4-5 students

For a team of four students, Expected hours: 150*4*4 = 2400hrs
 Fairly large
 IT/IS/ES related business problem
 Real business client
 Requires significant amount of research
 Must address Stream specific requirements
- Software Engineering (SE)
- Enterprise Systems and Business Analytics (EB)
Typical SE Projects
 Project team will develop technical solution(s) for client’s business
problems or opportunities
 Solution can be one or more of:
- PC/mobile/web application
- digital dashboard
- visualization or modelling tool

 Developing a website with a few webpages connected with a database is

NOT acceptable.
 Project scope must be enhanced by students/supervisors if this is
all the client requires.
Typical EB Projects
 Project team will look into IT/IS/ES related business problems
i. Adoption/implementation of new IT/IS systems to improve business
processes
ii. Maintaining or upgrading existing system
iii. Assessment of ‘As Is” and “To Be” business processes
iv. Business Intelligence and Data Analytics
v. Exploration of new technology

Outcome: Recommendations to improve client’s business information

systems:
- Consultancy Report, Business Model, Change Management Plan,
Implementation Plan, End-User Resources, Training Manuals
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Intellectual Property (IP)
 IP created by postgraduate students and staff is usually owned by university

 Most clients will be happy for you/the university to own the IP but the client has a perpetual royalty
free licence to use the IP
 Non Disclosure Agreements
 Some clients require this
 We have a form for this if required
Expectations
 Professionalism
 Problem-based self-learning and research
 Each project is different and has different characteristics.
 Do not compare your project with another team’s
 Project-management based lecture materials
 Research-informed approach to project execution
 Meetings and collaboration with client and project supervisor
 Flexibility with regards to project scope
 Workshops to discuss project progress and requirements
Contact Hours
 Each week: at least 7-8 hours
• Lecture: 2 hours
• Workshop: 2 hours – includes Team discussion
• Project meetings with Client: 30 - 60 minutes
• Project meetings with supervisors: 30 – 60 minutes
Course Description

 Your go to place for everything

- Course structure
- Course requirements and expectations
- Course assessments
- Pass requirements
- Extensions
- Referencing
and others.
 Available in Moodle
Assessment criteria

 In this course, students must demonstrate the following:

• Ability to work in a team environment
• Ability to work under constraints and pressure
• High level of professionalism throughout the project
- Client, supervisory and team meetings
- Project planning and execution
- Adoption of appropriate methodologies and industry standards
 Assessment tasks will be assessed using the following criteria:
(i) Quality of the output (e.g., documentation) produced
(ii) Process adopted in the project and/or to achieve the output
(iii) More importantly, progress made on the project work
(iv) Client satisfaction
Assessment Tasks
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ASSESSMENT PERCENTAGE WEEK DUE
Project Storyboard/Pitch 5% Week 3 (Workshop)

Weekly Stand-Ups 10% Weeks 2-11 (Workshop)

Product Roadmap/Pitch 5% (Sits within Sprint1) Week 6 (Workshop)

Week 6, 9, &12
Sprint Retrospectives(Sprints 1, 2, 3) 30% (10% each Sprint)
(Workshop)
Product Demonstration 15% Week 12

Client & Supervisor Evaluation 20% Several/Summative

Project Write-up 20% Week 12
Passing criteria
 Minimum of 50% in overall Assessment
 Each team must be present in the team presentation and speak about their
contribution in the project.
 Each student must submit sprint retrospectives and project reflection in e-Portfolio.
Evaluations by the Supervisor and Client
 Assessed in terms of enthusiasm, commitments and professionalism demonstrated in meetings
through out the semester.
• Meeting preparation – sending meeting agenda before the meetings, preparation of
meeting minute after the meetings
• Punctuality in meetings
• Project progress updates
 You are required to meet:
 Supervisor once every week
 Client – once every week
Team Assessments

 Majority of assessments are team based

• Team members are expected to contribute to projects as required
• Marks in team work may vary if there is no evidence of equal
contribution in the task.
Your Responsibility
 Collaborate in a team – well-defined roles and responsibilities
 Document everything (team agreement, meeting agenda, meeting minutes,
report drafts) – upload them in a common shared repository (e.g., team’s
website, basecamp account, google drive, drop box etc) and shared them
with your supervisor and lecturer.
 Respect Supervisor and Client’s time – make an appointment well in
advance, send agenda beforehand, be prepared for the meeting, discuss
meeting agendas and prepare meeting minute.
 Work professionally with your team members, client and supervisor.
Remember, your client could be your future employer!
Ultimate Goal

At the end of this course, your team should have:

• Demonstrated an understanding of a project problem

• Understood basics of Agile Project Management
• Carried out extensive research
• Executed your project applying Agile Project Management
• Developed artefacts that provide solution to the project problem
• Document your project in a comprehensive manner
Remember, the quality and delivery of the final outcome of the project depends
on your planning and identification of processes for delivering artefacts.
 Managing Your Project

 Agile Project management

 Scrum
 Kanban/Jira

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Project management: the move towards an agile approach

 Organisations’ operations build on a series of projects.

 Projects are complex, and today, more than ever, are met with uncertainties
and unpredictability.
 Hence, the move from traditional project management towards agile project
management.
 The agile methodology process seeks to respond to these uncertainties
through incremental, iterative work
Agile Methodology

 The agile working methodology or ‘movement’ allows project managers

and other stakeholders to assess and examine the direction of the project
during its life cycle.

 Sprints or iterations are regular and consistent which allow for a constant-
growth model which team members follow.

 At the end of each sprint or iteration it is required that the project team
deliver results in moving the project along.
Agile Principles

 ✓ Customer satisfaction
 ✓ Quality
 ✓ Teamwork
 ✓ Project management
Customer Satisfaction; Quality

 Highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable
software.
 Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the
customer’s competitive advantage.
 Deliver working software/solution frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a
preference to the shorter timescale.
 Project team (Business people and software developers) must work together daily throughout the
project.
 Working software/solution is the primary measure of progress.
 At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts
its behaviour accordingly.
Customer Satisfaction through Agile Project Management
Team Work
 The project team must work together daily throughout the project.

 Build projects around motivated individuals.

 The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and

within a development team is face-to-face conversation.

 At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective,

then tunes and adjusts its behaviour accordingly.
Project Management – Key areas
 Making sure the development team can be productive and can increase
productivity over long periods of time.

 Ensuring that information about the project’s progress is available to

stakeholders without interrupting the flow of development activities by
asking the development team for updates.

 Handling requests for new features as they occur and integrating them into
the product development cycle.
Traditional Vs Agile Project Management
Scrum
 Scrum is an agile framework for managing projects from start to finish. It’s
based around the values of self-organizing teams iterating rapidly on
collaborative plans.
 Intended to remove as much waste from workflows as possible, so
everyone’s effort can be focused on doing the most important task at each
step of a process.
 Scrum is all about getting teams to work well together to get projects done
efficiently and on time.
 In order to achieve this goal, they need to be structured in a way that
facilitates proper implementation.

• Scrum is a powerful framework for implementing agile processes in software development and other projects. This highly adopted framework utilizes short
iterations of work, called sprints, and daily meetings, called scrums, to tackle discrete portions of a project in succession until the project as a whole is
complete. There are three key roles within Scrum: the Scrum master, product owner, and Scrum team members:

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Scrum Terminology
 Product Owner: The primary decision-maker on a scrum team.
 Scrum Master: Leads meetings and standups, removes roadblocks, and oversees the scrum team.
 User Story: A brief explanation of the who, what, and why behind a project.
 Tasks: An item that needs to be completed by a scrum team member.
 Backlog: A repository of project ideas that may be executed in the future.
 Sprint: A short period of time during which a project will be completed (generally a week to a month).
 Standup: A daily morning meeting where the team shares what they did yesterday, what they’ll do today,
and anything that’s preventing them from moving forward.
 Retrospectives: A meeting to reflect on how a sprint went, what was learned, and what could be improved
upon in the future.
 Blockers: Anything that’s preventing a team member from completing their work.
 Minimum Viable Product (MVP): A bare-level project intended to show proof of concept.
 Kanban: A visual framework for tracking steps in a process that uses columns and status indicators moving
from left (beginning) to right (completion).
Scrum Roles

Three different roles:

 The Product Owner establishes what’s needed for completion. As stated
before, this is the central decision-maker on the team.
 The scrum master manages the process day-to-day. This entails removing
blockers, running standups and retrospectives, and ensuring the team has
what it needs to get its work done.
 Each team member takes care of their own work. Rather than having a boss
breathe down their neck, standups and ongoing communication between
team members keep everyone in the loop on project status. Transparency
ensures everyone knows how work is progressing and can anticipate next
steps.
Scrum Roles and Responsibilities

 The product owner creates and prioritizes a product backlog (work to be

done).
 Teams select items from the backlog and determine how to complete the
work.
 Work must be completed within a sprint (usually two to four weeks).
 The Scrum master meets with teams briefly each day to get progress
updates.
 Sprint reviews are conducted at the end of each sprint.
 The process starts again until all work or backlog is complete.
Creating a Project/Product Backlog

Understand Project
Identify Products
Outline Product Requirements
Planning Sprints and Building Up a Sprint Backlog

All successful sprint backlog needs are the following items:

 Estimates on how long each step will take. This can be challenging, so it’s
often best to overestimate time to build in a buffer against missing
deadlines.
 Placing each step into the correct order. Know which steps need to be
completed, and who needs to complete them, to keep the project moving.
 Ensuring the entire team has full visibility on upcoming sprints. Whatever
method of building and planning sprints you use, make sure your tool or
method can be easily accessed by the entire team.
Sprints

Sprint 1 – ?

Sprint 2 – ?

Sprint 3 – ?
Daily Stand-ups and Proactive Communication

A stand-up is a daily morning meeting where the team meets to discuss project
progress. Each team member shares the following information:

 What did you do yesterday? Which concrete actions did you execute?
 What will you do today? And does your work accurately follow the sprint?
 Is there anything stopping you from getting their work done? And how can
those blockers be removed?

These meetings should take 15 minutes or less. By setting time aside to sync on work, teams can ensure a consistent
flow of information so no one says, “Oh, I didn’t know that was happening,” or “Sorry, I didn’t know I was supposed to
have this done yet.”
Removing Blockers
It’s important to remove that obstacle as quickly as possible. This will help keep the team moving along
and prevent the project from going over deadline due to an unforeseen hurdle.
Here are some common blockers you might encounter:

 An app or tool is down. The team member can’t work because

their tools aren’t working.
 Team member doesn’t have access to a file or service.
 Another team or team member hasn’t completed their steps yet.
In this case, you’ll need to determine what the issue is and
determine how the work will get done on time.
Ultimately, a blocker can be anything that’s preventing the team member from making progress.
Sprint Retrospectives
 Once the sprint is complete, it’s time to look back on how the
project performed, and identify lessons learned and areas for
improvement.
 Like with daily standups, you may choose to run a
retrospective for all work at the end of the week, and project-
specific retros for each project you execute. This approach
ensures you’re evaluating each project, as well as evaluating
how things are going with your team as a whole.
 It’s best to gather the entire team into a room for this meeting.
One team member should pull up a document on a computer
(ideally on a television or sharing their screen so everyone can
see) and note the following:
 Was
words,the
did project
the sprintsuccessful? In other
meet its goals?
 What went well? Celebrate some wins!
 How could there
it be improved fortonext time?
Inevitably,
things that didn’t are
go bound
so well be
too. some
Think
on how
around. you can do better next time
References

1. Ken Peffers, Tuure Tuunanen, Marcus Rothenberger, and Samir Chatterjee.

2007. A Design Science Research Methodology for Information Systems
Research. J. Manage. Inf. Syst. 24, 3
2. Hevner, Alan R. (2007) "A Three Cycle View of Design Science Research,"
Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems: Vol. 19: Iss. 2, Article 4.
3. Layton, M. C., & Maurer, R. (2012). Agile project management for
dummies. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com Created from
ballarat on 2019-02-11 21:26:03. Copyright © 2012. Wiley. All rights
reserved.
4. https://coschedule.com/agile-marketing-guide/agile-scrum-framework-meth
odology/
5. Rasnacis, A., & Berzisa, S. (2015). Adaptation of Agile Project
Management Methodology for Project Team, Information Technology and
Management Science, 18(1), 122-128. doi:
https://doi.org/10.1515/itms-2015-0019
6. https://www.cio.com/article/3156998/agile-development/agile-project-mana
gement-a-beginners-guide.html