COMP 523, Spring 2007
Second Test

Paper copy is due at the beginning of class (12:30 p.m.), Thursday, April 26. 

Please be sure that your name is on the paper and that if there are multiple pages, that they are stapled together.

The turned in paper must be no more than 2 pages long. (I will stop reading at the end of the second page.)  You may not use font smaller than 10 pt.  Use 1.5 line spacing or double spacing.  Margins must be large enough for me to write in: ¾ inch minimum.

The intention of this assignment is for you to read the question early and think about it for a while before you write.  I am looking for a well-thought out, cohesive essay.  Be sure to support the statements that you make.

In a 1986 paper, a well-known software engineer wrote that we will never find a process that allows us to design software “in a perfectly rational way,” but that there is value in pretending that we follow such a process.   A rational process is one where every step is completed in a logical and precise order. You are to write an essay supporting or disputing this position.  Consider the following questions in your response:

• Is your answer different today than it would have been in 1986?
• What processes were in use at that time?  When was the agile development process introduced?
• Are there process models for which it is not possible to have a “perfectly rational” design process?  What prevents the processes from proceeding rationally?
• Are there process models for which it is possible?  What is it about these processes that permit the rational process?
• If a rational process is not possible, why might it be beneficial to pretend that such a process was followed? 
• What would it mean to pretend that you followed the process?  Consider issues such as scheduling, project management and deliverables.

Remember to pledge that you have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this exam.