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CHAPTER 1 SHIPPING SOFTWARE
Documentation
What form of documentation is needed and produced? The three project management
methodologies address documentation as follows:
Waterfall — Documentation is the rule of law. Documents describe what ’ s needed and
how the system will work. Documents enable team members to come and go because they
provide a permanent record of decisions. Microsoft Project and Gantt charts are tools
commonly used for documenting the project schedule.
MSF — A prescribed set of documents guide an MSF project. Beginning with a vision/scope
and concluding with release documentation and the Microsoft Operations Framework,
these documents provide a common language for teams familiar with MSF. Because
MSF is primarily used on Microsoft - focused projects, documents are frequently stored in
SharePoint or Visual Studio. Microsoft Project and Gantt charts are tools commonly used
for documenting the project schedule.
Scrum — Discussion and informal communication are favored over formal documentation.
User stories are decomposed into a scope that is scheduled for development. Before work
can begin, the product owner and team members discuss the features in detail. Visual
Studio TFS is a very effective tool for communicating user stories, features, and tasks.
When using Visual Studio TFS for Scrum artifacts and activities, documents are frequently
stored in SharePoint.
Project Duration
What is the typical duration of a project? The three project management methodologies address
project duration as follows:
Waterfall — Waterfall typically involves longer development projects, often measured in
years. It ’ s not uncommon to spend 3 – 4 months defi ning business requirements, followed
by 3 – 4 months defi ning the functional requirements and then 3 – 4 months defi ning the
technical design, all before the software development phase.
MSF — MSF uses an iterative framework, with releases shorter than those in Waterfall
projects. Typical durations are 6 – 12 months for a major release and 3 – 6 months for a
minor release. This pace balances design with delivery and user feedback with product
improvement.
Scrum — Scrum excels with projects of variable lengths and scopes, especially those that
deliver value to the customer early, with rapid iteration and product improvement. Releases
typically last 6 – 12 months, and sprints last 2 – 4 weeks.
SUMMARY
Shipping great software requires a lot more than writing great code. It requires all of the following:
Vision — A great product starts with a compelling, concise description about what you ’ re
building, for whom, and why. This is written or heavily shaped by the project sponsor.
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