PRODUCT

DEVELOPMENT

CET333
Methods: Introduction

Dr. Susan J Jones

Faculty of Computer Science
Methods and Life Cycle Models
 To develop a solution of any significant size requires a
methodical approach
◦ How to get from the requirements to the solution
◦ How to verify that the initial goal was achieved
◦ How to maintain/evolve the solution subsequently
 Several approaches have been proposed
◦ These are called methods and are encapsulated in life-cycle
models
◦ Supposed to support a product/solution from inception to
decommissioning
◦ There are many different approaches for different types of
projects/solutions
◦ They are all abstractions of the real world
A Simple Interaction Design Model

Identify needs/
establish requirements

Evaluate
(Re)Design
with users

Build an
interactive version
or PROTOTYPE
Final product
 The Waterfall Lifecycle Model
of Software Development
Requirements
analysis [from SE Discipline]

Design

Code

First method generally known in

software engineering Test

Basis of many lifecycle models

in use today
Maintenance
 The Spiral Lifecycle Model: [SE Discipline]
Evaluate alternatives,
Identify and resolve
risks
Determine goals
Alternatives Risk
analysis
constraints
Risk
analysis
Risk
analysis

Risk
analysis P1 P2 P3 OP

Simulations, models, benchmarks

Plan next Develop, verify

phases next level
product
 RAD Lifecycle Model: SE Discipline
Project [Rapid Applications Development]
initiation

Five phases: project set-up, JAD

JAD Workshops, iterative design and
workshops Build, test and evaluate final
Prototype and implementation review

Iterative
design and
build

Explicitly incorporates user involvement, Evaluate

Evaluation and iteration, but user involvement final system
limited to JAD workshops, and iteration appears
limited to design and build phase

Implementation
Review
 Susan’s visualisation of method and
use of models in big projects
IDEA

Each pasta spiral in my Remember models are

visualisation is a just abstractions, used
separate activity, with to understand a complex
work going on parallel, set of activities; they can
starting and finishing at never fully represent the
different times – all real world but help us to
ultimately working make sense of it and
towards the final product plan how to create,
- This is what the develop and implement
eCute project felt innovative user
like… applications
- See www.ecute.eu

FINAL PRODUCT
AGILE Methods
 Agile software development is a group of software
development methods based upon iterative and incremental
development, where requirements and solutions evolve
through collaboration between self-organising, cross
functional teams
 It promotes adaptive planning, evolutionary development and
delivery, a time-boxed iterative approach, and encourages
rapid and flexible response to change
 It is a conceptual framework that promotes forseen
interactions throughout the development life cycle
 Or in other words, very much like my pasta abstraction… 
eCute 7th Framework EU Project
 eCute – “Education for Cultural Understanding
Technology Enhanced” 2009-2013
 Aimed to develop cultural understanding by
providing:
◦ Immersive virtual role play with intelligent interactive
graphical characters within two game based VLEs
◦ Characters which embody models of culturally specific
behaviour and interaction
 Targeted at two specific age groups:
◦ For children aged 9-11 with a focus on cultural conflict
◦ For young adults aged 18-25 with a focus on intercultural
communication
 eCute Partners
 6 European
◦ Augsburg University - Germany
◦ Heriot-Watt University - UK
◦ INESC-ID - Portugal
◦ Jacobs University - Germany
◦ University of Sunderland - UK
◦ Wageningen University - Netherlands

 2 Japanese
◦ Kyoto University
◦ Seikei University

INTED 2011 Valencia

 MIXER – Moderating Cross-Cultural
Empathic Relationships – 9-11yr olds

Low tech, early stage Establishing cultural Lets play Hide and Seek!
evaluation/pilot in scenario for users
schools

INTED 2011 Valencia

 Virtual Beer Garden for Young Adults
Visualisation of Beer
Garden in first
Prototype

Young people socialising

in the beer garden

INTED 2011 Valencia

eCute – Project Life Cycle
 The eCute project was driven by ‘research goals’
 Agile methods were adopted across the various work
packages
 Fair to say that nearly half the project was involved in
establishing requirements and developing throw away
prototypes
 The evaluation phase was also longer than would be expected
for a commercial product that was going live
 The final outputs were ‘prototype’ technologies that have
never gone to market but which used technology in
innovative new ways
 Other important outputs related to research
 This included research papers for journals and conferences
and dissemination at a range of events
Data Capture Services
Data Capture ICT Company
 Delivered high volume data capture service to companies
 This was a business offering services to SMEs, but also to large
public sector organisations
 Involved the deployment of scanning and data verification
processing including OCR [Optical Character Recognition]
 In this context there were multiple projects that differed in size,
complexity and duration working with a range of different clients
 These included Shell Technology Ltd, Robertson Cooper
Management Consultancy for example
 Plus hospitals, local authorities and other public sector
organisations
 Still operates commercially but on a much smaller scale
Project Life Cycles
 Variation was largely a consequence of project type but also
client sector – public, private or voluntary [3rd sector]
 Project life cycles were usually more protracted in the public
sector
 Working with a range of different clients meant there were all
kinds of operational/delivery expectations and behaviours
 SMEs and larger organisations varied enormously
 Public sector tended to take much longer to make decisions
and progress projects – decision by committee
 Business tended to be more demanding and could be difficult
to work with depending upon their ethos, ways of working
and commercial imperatives
Ph.D Completed in 2003
 Research project: Design and Evaluation of
Multimedia Learning for Senior Managers
 Involved the adaptation of a cybernetic
systems model to help managers learn
about organisational dynamics
 I worked with a ‘Director of Studies’ – Prof
Gilbert Cockton
 A Ph.D research project is an individual
piece of research work, so the work was
done entirely on my own
 The Director of Studies is an experienced
researcher who supports and steers the
research
 Requires a lot of commitment and
determination
Exploiting New Technology
 Studied part-time while I was running a business 
 The technology that I eventually used to develop multimedia
learning was not available when I set out on the research
 The research project changed to exploit the new multimedia
authoring environments that you now take for granted
 I had never done any authoring/animation/graphic
development prior to commencing the development of the
technology
 It took me six months working in the evenings to master
Macromedia Director – which a bit like Adobe
Flash/ActionScript
 So the actual analysis/design/development/evaluation was
heavily skewed towards development and evaluation
Experiencing Project Life Cycles
 It is important to understand that actual
project life cycles are extremely varied
 This is why mastering project management
techniques can give you an important set of
skills
 And also why being involved in successful
projects is an extremely rewarding experience
 As a technologist it is important in particular
to recognise the demands of a particular
project and use project management tools
and techniques to progress effectively
through the various stages
 Being in the ‘driving seat’ can be unsettling,
but you must TAKE CHARGE and use all the
support available to you to take your project
forward
In Summary
 In your portfolio submission you need to explain your
method as part of the Practitioner Statement
 You will need to
◦ Describe what your method is
◦ Outline any adaptations you have made to a well
understood practitioner method to help it fit your project
◦ Provide a visualisation – a model diagram [your own]
◦ Explain how this method helped you to complete the
project to specification and on time
◦ Or alternatively explain why aspects of it caused problems
◦ Discuss briefly any constraints or drawbacks