[MUSIC] The next activity is allocating resources.

I mentioned in the first

module of this course, that resources are anything that improves,
advances, or funds a project. This could be things such as time,
money, or equipment. The allocating resources
activities includes planning and scheduling staff resources. This means breaking
down the work
schedule and assigning tasks. Making measurements is another
important project management activity, which involves tasks like defining,
calculating and analyzing metric data. Metrics are used to track and
asses the product and/or the process. These metrics could measure the density of
defects in the product, the rate at which your team is completing tasks, the number
of features complete, and much more. You will learn more about metrics in
the course on reviews and metrics for software improvement. This leads to the next
activity of Improving Process. It is important for you to recognize that, like the
product, improvements can
also be made to the process itself. It is just as important for you to test
and review the process, as it is for your development team to test and
review the product. You will be able to apply some of
the results from your metric data here, so that at the next calculation
your process will score better. Kevin is a software product manager for
a development team that is working on an ordering app for
local takeout restaurants. He has been at home with the flu for
the last week. When he returns he wants to know which
of the project management activities have been completed while he was away. He
looks around the office and sees
a schedule of tasks to be completed and a risk plan dated with yesterday's date. He
then logs onto his computer and sees
that new task development rates have been entered, and that
the Progress Tracking Chart is up-to-date. Which of the following activities
does Kevin have to complete? A. allocating resources,
B. managing risk, C. performing estimates, or
D. making measurements? An activity is complete when all
input work products are consumed and output work products are produced. Iteration
schedules, risk plans,
and progress tracking charts are all output work products for
project management activities. Task time estimates are an input work
product for performing estimates. Since Kevin only had updated task
development rates and not estimates, that activity has not yet used all it's
inputs and produced all it's outputs. Therefore answer C is correct. Next, lets
talk about
the specification phase. This phase is often seen
as the initial phase. The requirements for
the product are determined in this phase. But that does not mean that it only
occurs at the beginning of development. The specification phase is
revisited often, to update and improve the requirements for the product,
for the rest of development. Activities in the specification phase
are covered in the course on software requirements and client needs. The
specification activities include,
identifying ideas or needs, eliciting requirements,
expressing requirements, prioritizing requirements,
analyzing requirements, managing requirements and
formulating potential approaches. Now let's take a closer look
at some of these activities. Identifying ideas or needs is a very important
activity in software development. Without an idea,
there is no product to develop. Taking time to really think about
the product will help to create great software. Once you have an idea, the next
step
is to work on the requirements. There are five requirement activities. Eliciting
requirements, expressing
requirements, prioritizing requirements, analyzing requirements,
and managing requirements. You will revisit these requirement
activities in more detail in the Software Requirements and
Client Needs course. Once you have your requirements in place,
you are ready for formulating potential approaches. You are a product manager
working for
a chain of coffee shops. Your client wants your
development team to create an app that allows end users to pay for
their coffees with the application. You are working on the formulating
potential approaches activity with your development team. What would an input work
product be for
this activity? A. Estimations, B. Defined metrics, C. Internal documentation, or
D. Backlog of requirements. You will use all of these work products
at some point in the development process. Estimations are commonly used as
inputs when creating schedules. Defined metrics are used as input work
products when you are calculating and analyzing metrics. Internal documentation is
used when
developing executable code and tests. You will use the backlog of requirements
to formulate potential approaches, since you need to know exactly
what you are developing. Therefore, D is the correct answer.