The reading assignment for the week of April 10th consists of two
chapters which are related to starting a project and making corrections
as the project moves along.  The topics are closely related so I'd like
to combine our discussion of the two chapters as described below.

[There will be no reading assignment for the week of April 17th because
we will be watching and discussing Alan Kay's lecture at the history of
personal workstations conference.  We will read and discuss chapter 6 on
Wednesday, April 26th.]

The first part, which will take place on Monday, April 10th, will be a
class discussion of the two chapters so I'm asking you to prepare
discussion questions based on the content of the chapters for Monday.

The second part, which will take place on Wednesday, April 12th, will be
a discussion of application of these ideas to specific projects.  One of
the examples that we will use is how your project teams were organized
to work on project 4 and changes that you've made along the way.  Again,
I'm asking for discussion questions and examples.

There is a brief written assignment with questions based on the two
chapters which is due on Wednesday, April 12th.

Assignment 8a

Due Monday, April 10th at 11:00 AM

Read Chapters 4 and 5 of Cockburn.  When you're reading, focus on the
examples to understand the issues that he raises.  You can always refer
to the details when you need them if you remember the issues that he
talks about and the solutions he offers.

Prepare two discussion questions about chapter 4 and two discussion
questions about chapter 5.  Turn them in in the usual way and bring a
copy to class so you'll have them available if you're asked to raise a
question.

Assignment 8b

Due Wednesday, April 12th at 11:00 AM

Write one discussion question about applying the ideas in chapter 4 to a
real project and one about applying the ideas in chapter 5 to a real
project.  (Obviously not all of the ideas, just a few that you found
hard to understand or worth exploring further.)

Turn in your questions in the usual way and bring them to class.

The two questions to be answered as your homework are:

Imagine that you have just been assigned the task of managing a team
that is to produce the software that is your project 4.  Using the
guidelines of chapter 4, select the skills of people that you will need
to complete the project.  You may pick a small, fast moving team as your
model or a large development organization.

What would you like to know about how this work was done when the
project is completed?  What data would you collect to gather this
information?

Your answer should take no more than two typewritten pages of the usual
sort, 1" margins all around, 10 point type on 12 point lines, blank
lines between paragraphs.  Don't spend a long time writing your answer;
an hour or two is more than long enough.