The Unified Process Elaboration Phase: Best Practices in Implementing the UP
A collection of well-written magazine articles covering analysis and design using Rational s Unified Process.
TABLE OF CONTENTS The Unified Process Elaboration Phase: Best Practices in Implementing the UP
Chapter 8: Parting Words
We have known the fundamentals of the software process for years one has only to read classic texts such as Fred Brooks Mythical Man Month (originally published in the mid-1970s) to see that this is true. Unfortunately, as an industry, we have generally ignored these fundamentals in favor of flashy new technologies promising to do away with all our complexities, resulting in a consistent failure rate of roughly 85%. Seven out of eight projects fail. That is the cold, hard truth. Additionally, this failure rate and embarrassments such as the Y2K crisis are clear signs that we need to change our ways. It is time for organizations to choose to be successful, to choose to follow techniques and approaches proven to work in practice, to choose to follow a mature software process.
A failure rate of roughly 85% implies a success rate of only 15%.Think about it.
8.1 Looking Toward Construction
In a nutshell, the goal of the Elaboration phase is to prepare your project team for the Construction phase. To move into the Construction phase, you must pass the Lifecycle Architecture Milestone (Kruchten, 1999). To pass this milestone you must achieve:
Stability.
The vision for your project should be stable the result of working together with your project stakeholders to identify, document, communicate, and then agree to the requirements for your project. The architecture for your project also should be stable the result of formulating, modeling, and then proving your architectural...
Copyright CMP Books 2000 under license agreement with Books24x7
