Management of SE

How does one manage Software Engineering?

In this case, I am defining “manage” as more than just a manager and controlling projects. How does one (individual, team, or manager) decide what is a good process to follow, or which SE principle applies? First I think that experience is the number one factor. Experience can compare the principle, process, or technique to similar instances and can suggest the probability of the outcome. I think this is also why most projects fail – somewhere in the chain of people and events, someone either ignored the past or could not do the comparison(maybe they had no experience). I know I have been involved with this issue on too many projects!

How does one gain this experience? You either pay the price to hire an individual with it, or you pay the price to develop it. Given a foundation of some level of experience, I think the next level (I will keep this vague in this discussion) can be obtained through study; reading, discussions, conferences, or courses. And of course I believe, based upon my own experiences, that experience develops better in a group rather than as an individual. In fact this may very well be why I believe in attending conferences.

For those that haven’t checked out the requirements of the IEEE CSDP, the application requires documention of at least a minimum of 9,000 hours of software engineering experience within at least six (6) of the eleven (11) knowledge areas.

I. Professionalism and Engineering Economics
II. Software Requirements
III. Software Design
IV. Software Construction
V. Software Testing
VI. Software Maintenance
VII. Software Engineering Management
VIII. Software Configuration Management
IX. Software Engineering Process
X. Software Engineering Tools and Methods
XI. Software Quality

The number of hours on the Report of Experience and Education Form must total at least 9,000 hours and software engineering assignment dates must indicate that the candidate has at least two (2) years of software engineering experience within the four-year (4) period prior to the application.

Allen

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