Agile Project Management

This project will be carried out in steps. Each step teaches students a specific aspect of the subject and development paradigm. Following are the steps students will follow to complete this project.

Step 1: Project Introduction Self Study [6 days]

In the first step, students will learn about the financial industry and review the project introduction documentation to build up the subject knowledge. This is a self-learning stage; however, instructor hours are available if required.

Step 2: Project Build-up and Environment Setup [2 days]

In this step, students are required to follow the project guide to set up the development environment. The project document guides students to find and connect to the LSET Git repository and install the necessary libraries or tools.

Step 3: Product Backlog and Sprint Planning [2 days]

In this step, students will use the existing product backlog and enhance it per their project scope. Students can seek help from the project coordinator and the instructor. The project coordinator will help students do sprint planning and assign story points to the stories. This process is meant to give students real-world work environment experience. Students can consider this a mock exercise on agile project management practices.

Step 4: User Stories Execution and Development [12 days]

Students will work on the user stories identified in the Step 3 process in this step. Students will write code and algorithms to complete the development objectives. The project coordinator will be available to help students to guide them on the development and answer any questions they may have. Students can also discuss this with the instructor.

Step 5: Testing, Deployment and Completion [5 days]

In this step, students will test and deploy the application to the cloud environment. Students will experience the deployment process in the cloud and learn the best practices. After the successful deployment, students will present their project to the instructor and the external project reviewer. Feedback will be given to the students. Students will have one week to work on the feedback and submit the final copy of the project, which will be sent to the external examiner for evaluation.

LSET emphasises preparing students for the work environment by allowing them to learn the required soft skills. After completing the project, students must present their work to the instructor and an invited project reviewer panel. Please note that the assigned external examiner will not be part of this panel and hence will not know about the students. This ensures an unbiased assessment by the external examiner. This exercise aims to allow students to experience an environment they may face in their actual job. Also, it gives them a chance to get feedback from industry experts who can guide students on various parts of the project. This will help students to learn and fix anything they find necessary in their project. This ensures quality output and allows students to learn about industry requirements.

The instructor and the project reviewer panel will assess the students on the following;

Project Repository on GitHub [10 points]: The instructor will ensure that the students have uploaded the project repository to the LSET’s GitHub account per the guidelines in the project requirement documentation. Full points will be awarded if the repository is appropriately set up per the instructions.

Presentation Skills [20 points]: Students must present their work in the given timeframe. Full points will be awarded if students cover everything needed to deliver their work in the given timeframe.

Communication Skills [20 points]: Students must present their work in a manner understandable by all the participants. More focus will be given to how students communicate, not the language. Full points will be awarded if students can share their work correctly.

LSET promotes a transparent and unbiased evaluation process. All the external examiners will follow a set process to grade students. No student’s personal or identifying information will be shared with the external examiners, so they will not know about the person they are grading. They will only get the project files and grading guidelines to follow. This will ensure equal quality standards across the institute.

Following are some critical areas the LSET external examiners will be grading on.

Project Documentation [10 points]: Project documentation is filed correctly with the information which can be used to understand the project work. Students can use the supplied project documentation template to fill up the data. External examiner to confirm if all the information is filled up. Full points will be awarded if all the sections are covered.

Project Structure [10 points]: Students must follow the proper structure while developing their projects. This structure is being taught and covered in the project requirement documentation. External examiner to confirm if the project files are correctly structured. Full points will be awarded if the structure meets the given guideline.

Solves Basic Problem [50 points]: Students must ensure that they implement all the requirements in the project documentation. External examiner to confirm if the project solves the given problem. Full points will be awarded if the students include everything asked in the project requirement.

Innovation [20 points]: Students are encouraged to bring new ideas into their development. They can improve the design, use new design patterns, code with a better coding style, or add a feature. External examiner to confirm if the students have added more than the requirement to improve the design or solution. The new addition must include a new feature and should not be similar to the requirements given. Full points will be awarded if the external examiner finds an innovation or see students going beyond the asked requirements.

Best Practices [20 points]: Students must follow the best practices in their development. This will help them to become a quality resource for their prospective employer. External examiner to confirm if the supplied best practices are followed in the project. Full points will be awarded if the best practices are properly implemented.

Performance Consideration [20 points]: Students must consider performance while working on their projects. Performance is one of the critical industry requirements. External examiner to confirm if the student thought the performance improvements in the project. Full points will be awarded if the external examiner sees efforts taken to consider performance aspects in the development.

Security Structure [20 points]: Students need to consider the security aspect If applicable in the design and development. External examiner to confirm if the security consideration is appropriate in this project; if it is applicable, the examiner to verify if the student has considered the security elements in the project. Full points will be awarded if the external examiner sees efforts taken to assess the security aspect of the development.