INFO 424 Team Project Practicum Week 7 – Feedback, User docs, Presentation tips Glenn Booker Notes partly from Prof. Hislop 1INFO 424 Week 7

Agenda Feedback from review reports and draft SDS’ User documents Implementation plans Presentation tips 2INFO 424 Week 7

Review Report Reminders Goal is to find defects –As many as possible Avoid –Writing new requirements –Making value judgments about requirements –Making assumptions about the target environment –Raising policy issues 3INFO 424 Week 7

SDS Problem Themes Good individual work but not integrated –Especially diagrams vs. Detailed Design Screen hierarchy diagrams vs. individual screen entities ER Diagrams vs. database table entities –Class diagram vs. sequence diagrams –Sequence diagrams should be based on a written main success scenario and extensions for that use case 4INFO 424 Week 7

SDS Problem Themes Connecting design elements to requirements These are bad signs: –“Requirement – There is no reference to this section in the SRS as it is strictly design specific” –“Requirement – To store information of the users” 5INFO 424 Week 7

SDS Problem Themes Providing complete designs –Continuing to describe features instead of designing –Not specifying complete design elements Watch phrases like “including”, “such as”, and “etc.” –By the time you get through SDS section 4, the system should be fully specified 6INFO 424 Week 7

SDS Problem Themes Remember the SDS should be clear and complete enough you could hand it off to a herd of developers and they could finish creating the system, at least through cycle 1 functionality –Even if it’s different from what you envision, it would fulfill the requirements and design 7INFO 424 Week 7

User Documents User documentation for a project could include many kinds of documents, depending on the nature and design of the system and its users –User manual (as in RTFM) –Installation guide –Debugging or maintenance guide –Help menus or utilities 8INFO 424 Week 7

User manual The User manual is usually designed for novice users of the system –Generally organized by the type of task they need to perform –Lots of screen caps and explicit instructions –Written in conversational tone –Be clear what the expected outcome of each step is, and what to do if it doesn’t work 9INFO 424 Week 7

Installation guide May seem obvious or not be needed (e.g. for web-based systems) –Keep in mind everyone isn’t as computer literate as you are! –Could be a brief set of instructions on how to use the installer utility, particularly for CD or DVD-based software distribution –Might have separate instructions for the client and server components of the system 10INFO 424 Week 7

Debugging or maintenance guide More complex systems might be maintained locally, so they need help with debugging or troubleshooting common problems with the system –Often used with hardware-intensive systems –Organize by the type of problem found, and describe what to do about it –Might be part of the user manual, e.g. for a printer 11INFO 424 Week 7

Help menus The most common form of user docs at this point, most systems should have some form of help available –Could be context-sensitive or not All forms of user docs should include contact info for problem reporting 12INFO 424 Week 7

Implementation Plans What do you plan to do for cycle 1 implementation? –Aim for full usable implementation of one or two important functions, not partial implementation of a bunch of stuff –Set a good precedent for interface elements that will appear throughout the system The look and feel of your system should be apparent 13INFO 424 Week 7

Term Presentation Content –Project overview Summary of requirements and design Definition of cycle 1 –Project result Demo of cycle 1 prototype –Project experience Good and bad; lessons learned, what worked 14INFO 424 Week 7

Term Presentation Approach –Professional, business style presentation Dress Presentation materials –One or several presenters, your choice –Maximum time: 10 minutes 15INFO 424 Week 7

Term Presentation Evaluation rubric –Content (40%) –Organization (20%) –Time (8%) –Visual Aids (8%) –Speech Patterns, Elocution (8%) –Enthusiasm, Eye Contact, Posture, Gestures (8%) –Dress (8%) 16INFO 424 Week 7

Term Presentation The content of your presentation is critical –Select content that is concise and clear –What is most important for us to know? Make sure the presentation is organized –Adult audiences like to know where this is heading; it’s not a mystery play –Be ready to show your presentation 17INFO 424 Week 7

Term Presentation Stay within the time limit –If you don’t, the organization score is also often poor Visual aids –Pick appropriate visual aids Not necessarily PowerPoint! Hardware? Whiteboard? –Use of figures 18INFO 424 Week 7

Term Presentation Speech pattern, elocution –Avoid filler words (um, er, uh, …) Brief silence is a lot better! –Speak slower and louder than normal, or we can’t understand or hear you Enthusiasm, etc. –Pretend to be confident, even if you aren’t –Make eye contact with the audience (not just the professor) 19INFO 424 Week 7

Term Presentation –Stand up straight, don’t slouch (yes, I am your mother); it makes a difference in the impression you make –Remember to breathe, relax –Don’t fidget, it’s distracting Dress appropriately –I don’t expect Armani suits, but something nicer than shorts and flip-flops would be good 20INFO 424 Week 7