SPA2005 session: Maintenance Manifesto

One-line description:Maintainability is a non-functional requirement that clients must pay for; cooperate in convicing them of this law of nature
 
Session format: Workshop [read about the different session types]
 
Abstract:Objectives

To help participants realise that deployment of a working application is a beginning, as well as an end

To produce the Maintenance Manifesto: a presentation explaining the costs and benefits of building maintainability into an application, with a specific example

To enjoy a creative and constructive discussion about maintenance and its place in the software lifecycle


Content

The leaders will provide input and a process to facilitate the achievement of the objectives; see the other sections for details
 
Audience background:* anyone who is sceptical about maintenance ("bits don't wear out")
* anyone who has struggled with clients over change costs ("hmm, that's not so easy" or "I wish you'd told me about this earlier")
* any architect who is tired of cutting corners ("a stitch in time saves nine" versus "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush")
* any open or willing person
 
Benefits of participating:Gain wider perspective on maintenance and change.

Learn how to work better with clients to explain abou the costs of maintainability.
 
Materials provided:Our views on non- functional requirements for maintainability (PPT presentation)
Skeleton for the Maintenance Manifesto (PPT presentation)
Outline of the worked example (same application, different maintenance requirements, different architecture, different costs/ROI)
Workshop process plan
 
Process:Introduction [5m]

Brainstorm and processing [15m]
my problems with maintenance
my clients' problems with maintenance
re-express as constraints/content for MManifesto

Presentation [10m]

maintenance as a (business) benefit and a (IT) cost
Working [20m]
outline a good example for the MManifesto
use a pyramid structure (= knock-out)

Work breakdown [5m]
who will work on theory/general versus the examples?

Working main #1 [40m]
in parallel
the theory: notion of NFR, level of requirement (business versus IT), how to present it
the IT practice: illustration with two architectures for the example application, with some indicative costing

Review [5m]
how are we doing?
refinement of goals for teams

Working main #2 [35m]
in parallel
the theory: (as before)
the IT practice:(as before)

Plenary presentation [5m]
review by the whole group of the presentation (suggestions noted, not incorporated)

Reflection/feedback [10m]
what was the best/worst thing about this workshop
how would you improve it
what have you learned
what might you do differently
 
Outputs:The Maintenance Manifesto (a presentation explaining the costs and benefits of building maintainability into an application, with a specific example).
 
History:None - An emerging idea. Your chance to be at the cutting edge for three hours.
 
Presenters
1. Bruce Anderson
IBM Component Technology Services
2. Robert James
HSBC
3.