Unified Process (UP) Best Practices

• Get high risk and high value requirements first
• Constant user feedback and engagement
• Early cohesive core architecture
• Test early, often, and realistically
• Apply use cases where needed
• Do some visual modeling with UML
• Manage requirements and scope creep
• Manage change requests and configuration

Unified Process Phases

Inception

• Inception is not a requirements phase; rather a feasibility phase, where just enough investigation is done to support a decision to continue or stop. –
• The life-cycle objectives of the project are stated, so that the needs of every stakeholder are considered. Scope and boundary conditions, acceptance criteria and some requirements are established.
• Approximate vision, business case, scope, vague estimates.

Inception - Activities

•  Formulate the scope of the project: Needs of every stakeholder, scope, boundary conditions and acceptance criteria established.
•  Plan and prepare the business case: Define risk mitigation strategy, develop an initial project plan and identify known cost, schedule, and profitability trade-offs.
• Synthesize candidate architecture: Candidate architecture is picked from various potential architectures
• Prepare the project environment

Inception - Exit criteria

• An initial business case containing at least a clear formulation of the product vision - the core requirements - in terms of functionality, scope, performance, capacity, technology base.
• Success criteria (example: revenue projection).
• An initial risk assessment.
• An estimate of the resources required to complete the elaboration phase.

Elaboration

• An analysis is done to determine the risks, stability of vision of what the product is to become, stability of architecture and expenditure of resources. 
• Refined vision, iterative implementation of core architecture, resolution of high risks, identification of most requirements and scope, more realistic estimates

Elaboration - Entry criteria

• The products and artifacts described in the exit criteria of the previous phase. 
• The plan approved by the project management, and funding authority, and the resources required for the elaboration phase have been allocated

Elaboration - Activities

• Define the architecture: Project plan is defined. The process, infrastructure and development environment are described. 
• Validate the architecture.  
• Baseline the architecture: To provide a stable basis for the bulk of the design and implementation effort in the construction phase.

Elaboration - Exit criteria 

• A detailed software development plan, with an updated risk assessment, a management plan, a staffing plan, a phase plan showing the number and contents of the iteration , an iteration plan, and a test plan
• The development environment and other tools 
• A baseline vision, in the form of a set of evaluation criteria for the final product.
• A domain analysis model, sufficient to be able to call the corresponding architecture ‘complete’. 
• An executable architecture baseline. 

Construction 

• The Construction phase is a manufacturing process. It emphasizes managing resources and controlling operations to optimize costs, schedules and quality. This phase is broken into several iterations. 
•  Iterative implementation of the remaining lower risk and easier elements, and preparation for deployment. 

Construction - Entry criteria 

• The product and artifacts of the previous iteration. The iteration plan must state the iteration specific goals
• Risks being mitigated during this iteration. 
• Defects being fixed during the iteration. 

Construction - Activities 

• Develop and test components: Components required satisfying the use cases, scenarios, and other functionality for the iteration are built. Unit and integration tests are done on Components. 
• Manage resources and control process. 
• Assess the iteration: Satisfaction of the goal of iteration is determined.

Construction - Exit Criteria 

• The same products and artifacts, updated, plus
• A release description document, which captures the results of an iteration 
• Test cases and results of the tests conducted on the products
• An iteration plan, detailing the next iteration 
• Objective measurable evaluation criteria for assessing the results of the next iteration(s).  

Transition 

• The transition phase is the phase where the product is put in the hands of its end users. It involves issues of marketing, packaging, installing, configuring, supporting the user. community, making corrections, etc. 
• Beta tests, deployment. 

Transition - Entry criteria

• The product and artifacts of the previous iteration, and in particular a software product sufficiently mature to be put into the hands of its users.

Transition - Activities  

• Test the product deliverable in a customer environment. 
• Fine tune the product based upon customer feedback 
• Deliver the final product to the end user 
• Finalize end-user support material.

Transition - Exit criteria 

• An update of some of the previous documents, as necessary, the plan being replaced by a “post-mortem” analysis of the performance of the project relative to its original and revised success criteria; 
• A brief inventory of the organization’s new assets as a result this cycle.  

The Agile Principles

1. Satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.

2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development.

3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter time scale.

4. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.

5. Build projects around motivated individuals.

6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying info. 

7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.

8. Agile processes promote sustainable development.

9. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.

10. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.

11. Simplicity – the art of maximizing the amount of work NOT done is essential.

12. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self- organizing teams.

13. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.