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Case Study: The 7 Steps of Software Development – An un-"Real World" Case Study
» Chapter I: Introduction
» Chapter II: Cast of Characters
» Chapter III: Preliminary Investigation and Analysis
» Chapter IV: Specification and Requirement Analysis
» Chapter V: Design
» Chapter VI: Coding
» Chapter VII: Testing
» Chapter VII: Deployment
This step is concerned with maintaining the existing program by fixing any bugs and enhancing the software. In our case, the misery continues.
Joe is hardly surprised about a week after the product ships to get a call to report immediately to HR when he arrives one morning. It seems that the company has instituted a new program called 'forced ranking' and it seems that Brian has rated him as being a 'C' player. He signs a few documents and is escorted out the door by a security guard. His belongings from his desk are shipped to him a week later with several things missing.
Brian reinforces the point with all of his employees in a meeting by telling them, "If you're a [explicitive]-up like Joe you'll be gone too!" The already low department morale sinks lower.
Hoping to address the perceived weaknesses in the original release, Mary and Brian work up a spec for a 1.1 release. Unfortunately, all of the contractors who worked on the project have left and the two remaining junior programmers who were on the project are working feverishly on the significant problems in the company's core product. No one on the software development team wants to take on a 'cursed' project and find ways to avoid taking ownership of it. The enhancements are shelved and the product languishes and becomes even more unpopular in the company and with customers.
It doesn't look like the program has much of a future. Next we'll take a look a few months down the road and see what's happened and I'll offer my closing comments and solicit yours in Chapter X: Aftermath and Comments.
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