Applying Competitive Bidding
Games in Software Process
Education
Guoping Rong, He Zhang, Dong Shao
Nanjing University, China
ronggp@software.nju.edu.cn
Content
 Challenges in software process-specific
project practicing
 The bidding game: course design
 Lecture phase
 Practice phase
 Preliminary results of the course
 Conclusion
 Seeking for collaborations
2
Challenges in software process-specific
project practicing
 difficult to find suitable projects for practicing
software processes, technical details VS.
process awareness.
 a developer’s perspective may limit students’
capability to meet expectations of senior
management and customers.
 time limits for implementing these projects is
highly constrained.
3
Course Design
-Lecture phase
 two phases, i.e., the lecture phase and
practice phase
 Lecture phase
 6-8 hours
 Topics including estimation, planning, quality
management, risk management and team
dynamics.
4
Course Design
-Practice phase
 Practice phase
 Role-play bidding game
 Scenario
“……, every team should develop a project plan, and
present the plan in public, and the best team will win the project (determined
by the senior management).The marketing department has finished the draft version of the
requirements specification of the online exam supporting system. Meanwhile one person in the
marketing department mentioned that four weeks later, there would be a certification exam in
local region. If we could seize this opportunity, the influence of the online exam supporting
system can expand rapidly. So the management really expected that the project could be
Your team (four people include you) has
three days to make a project plan and then present
the project plan on the 4th day. You should put all the
useful materials into the project plan and support your
team to win the project. ” 5
finished in four weeks.
Course Design
-Practice phase
 Project kick-off meeting
 Teacher could brief the tasks and requirements
 Students could inquire necessary information,
e.g., requirements, expectations, etc.
 Project planning
 Students develop a solution(plan) to meet
expectations from stakeholders, in this case, the
teacher.
 Plan presentation
 Students present their plans
 Teachers and TAs could ask questions about the
6
plan
Suggested materials included in the
project plan
7
Questions for the team
 Typical work products
 Size and time estimation
 Tasks and schedules
 Efforts and resource
 Alternative solutions
 Quality issues
 Risks
 Reuse
8
Evaluation Criteria
-1
C1
The overall performance of the team
C2
Confidence and persistence for the plan
C3
Deep understanding of the project
context
C4
Team-working of the team leader
9
Evaluation Criteria
-2
C5
Thinking highly of quality
C6
Being thoughtful about the project
C7
Trying hard to meet expectations from
the senior management
C8
Requirements for senior management
10
Three classes
11
Course results
-1
Criteria
Team One
(Part-time Students)
Team Two
(Full-time Students)
C1
One team member was absent.
However, the rest team members
had been very supportive during the
presentation.
All the team members were present.
However, some students did not
concentrate well during the
presentation.
C2
quite confident about the estimation Not quite confident about the estimation
results and insistent on the schedule. results;
Quite optimistic about the resource
hours each week.
C3
alternative feasible plans were
provided
Only provided one aggressive
alternative plan.
C4
Not well, the team leader made
some team commitments in a
personal way.
Not well, the team leader made many
team commitments in a personal way.
C5
achieving quality objectives through
process, yet they still relied heavily
on testing to remove defects.
At first, the team only put resource in
testing activities. After some discussion,
they seemed to understand that review
and inspection could also improve
12
Course results
-2
Criteria
Team One
(Part-time Students)
Team Two
(Full-time Students)
C6
Identified 8 risks. However, they did This team identified no risks, and also
not consider the reuse strategy.
they did not consider the reuse
They mentioned that it was too early strategy.
to consider the reuse strategy.
C7
quite confident about the estimation
They showed greatest efforts to
meet expectations from the senior
management.
C8
This team raised some
No requirements for the senior
requirements for senior
management.
management. For example, no staff
changes, suitable team working
places, no requirement changes, etc.
13
They also showed greatest efforts to
meet expectations from the senior
management.
Conclusion
 could force students to focus on management
aspects rather than technical details.
 Could help students think from a more
comprehensive perspective.
 the duration of the course is usually within one
week, which provides flexibility to find suitable
slots in regular semesters.
 to fosters communication among different roles
14
Future work
 To make comprehensive analysis on the
difference of the performance between
experienced students from the industry
and inexperienced students from school.
 To replicate the course in different context,
e.g., industrial, different culture, etc.
15
Q&A
16