SE 359 Agile Software Development
Summary
This course focuses on the fundamentals, principles, tools, and techniques of Agile software development. The objectives for this course are for you to:
- Understand common Agile development methodologies and how they compare to more traditional approaches.
- Work with some common techniques of Agile development including estimation and progress reporting.
- Write epics, user stories, and tasks; estimate their complexity; and participate in sprint planning.
- Apply agile principles during a small team project.
- Analyze what makes Agile development successful or unsuccessful in different environments.
Texts
There is no course text. Resources will include lecture notes, and various online articles, sites, etc.
Grading
Final grades will be calculated based on performance in the following categories:
| Team Project & Presentations |
25% |
| Midterm Exam |
25% |
| Final Exam |
25% |
| Homework |
15% |
| Quizzes |
10% |
Prerequisites
Team Project
Meaningful software development almost always happens as the result of a team effort.
- You will work on a team project for the duration of the course during which you will put into practice some of the techniques that we discuss in class.
- Teams will be formed of both in-class and DL students to simulate a modern development environment that uses distributed teams.
- Each team member will be asked to evaluate their peers by distributing a fixed set of points at the end of the term.
A final team presentation will be due the 10th week of class.
COVID-19 Health and Safety Precautions
Keeping our DePaul community safe is of utmost importance in the pandemic. Students, faculty and staff are expected to (1) wear a mask as required at all times while indoors on campus; (2) refrain from eating and drinking in classrooms; (3) keep current with their COVID-19 vaccinations or exemptions; (4) stay home if sick; (5) participate in any required COVID-19 testing; (6) complete the online Health and Safety Guidelines for Returning to Campus training; and (7) abide by the City of Chicago Emergency Travel Advisory. By doing these things, we are Taking Care of DePaul, together. The recommendations may change as local, state, and federal guidelines evolve. Students who do not abide by the mask requirement may be subject to the student conduct process and will be referred to the Dean of Students Office. Students who have a medical reason for not complying with any requirements should register with DePaul’s Center for Student with Disabilities (CSD).
Synchronous Sessions
We will use the synchronous class sessions to engage in activities and exercises that will help you to apply what you're learning and to engage with your peers. The synchronous sessions will be best utilized and most lively if everyone has prepared by watching the assigned lectures, reading the assigned texts, and completing any individual assignments or activities I've assigned earlier in the week. A portion of the synchronous session will also be reserved for questions and answers.
This synchronous class sessions or portions of synchronous class sessions will be recorded and available to the class during the quarter via our D2L course site. You may find it helpful to review these recordings, but watching the recordings will not be a substitute for attending and participating in the synchronous sessions. Portions of the recordings that contain images, questions, or commentary/discussion by students will be edited out of any recordings that are saved beyond the current quarter.
Course and project overview. The motivation for agile.
Themes, Epics, Stories, and Tasks. Tips for writing good stories.
An overview of Scrum.
Source code management and git. Sprint 0 team presentations.
Build automation and dependency management using Maven. Midterm exams.
An introduction to eXtreme Programming. Sprint 1 team presentations.
Testing within agile. An introduction to unit testing with JUnit and Mockito.
Refactoring and common code "smells". Sprint 2 team presentations.
An introduction to Lean and Kanban.
Held for overflow and extra topics if there's time. Project wrap-up and sprint 3 team presentations.
This syllabus is subject to change as necessary during the quarter. If a change occurs, it will be thoroughly addressed during class, posted under Announcements in D2L and sent via email.
Evaluations are a way for students to provide valuable feedback regarding their instructor and the course. Detailed feedback will enable the instructor to continuously tailor teaching methods and course
content to meet the learning goals of the course and the academic needs of the students. They are a requirement of the course and are key to continue to provide you with the highest quality of teaching. The
evaluations are anonymous; the instructor and administration do not track who entered what responses. A program is used to check if the student completed the evaluations, but the evaluation is completely
separate from the student’s identity. Since 100% participation is our goal, students are sent periodic reminders over three weeks. Students do not receive reminders once they complete the evaluation.
Students complete the evaluation online in CampusConnect.
This course will be subject to the university's academic integrity policy. More information can be found at http://academicintegrity.depaul.edu/ If you
have any questions be sure to consult with your professor.
All students are expected to abide by the University's Academic Integrity Policy which prohibits cheating and other misconduct in student coursework. Publicly sharing or posting online any prior or current materials from this course (including exam questions or answers), is considered to be providing unauthorized assistance prohibited by the policy. Both students who share/post and students who access or use such materials are considered to be cheating under the Policy and will be subject to sanctions for violations of Academic Integrity.
All students are required to manage their class schedules each term in accordance with the deadlines for enrolling and withdrawing as indicated in the University Academic Calendar. Information on enrollment, withdrawal, grading and incompletes can be found at http://www.cdm.depaul.edu/Current%20Students/Pages/PoliciesandProcedures.aspx.
Students who feel they may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact the instructor privately to discuss their specific needs. All discussions will remain confidential.
To ensure that you receive the most appropriate accommodation based on your needs, contact the instructor as early as possible in the quarter (preferably within the first week of class), and make sure that
you have contacted the Center for Students with Disabilities (CSD) at:
Lewis Center 1420, 25 East Jackson Blvd.
Phone number: (312)362-8002
Fax: (312)362-6544
TTY: (773)325.7296