In 2005, British Telecom (BT) took a big risk: the company dropped its use of the waterfall system development process and embraced agile development. Previously, BT had outsourced the gathering of system requirements to a third company, which would typically take three to nine months to meet with customers and stakeholders and create a requirements list. Next, the project would move back to BT where programmers often struggled to interpret the requirements and then develop and test the system within 18 months — although some projects needed more time. In late 2005, however, BT took only 90 days to roll out a new Web-based system for monitoring phone traffic. The new system allowed traffic managers to change switches and other physical devices more quickly in order to handle shifts in load along BT’s telecommunications network. The success of this initial project reverberated throughout the IT world, as BT became the first telecommunications giant to adopt agile development—
Critical Path Method
The critical path is the longest succession of tasks that has to be successfully completed to conclude a project entirely. The tasks involved in the sequence are called critical activities, as any task getting delayed will result in the whole project getting delayed. To determine the time duration of a project, the critical path has to be identified. The critical path method or CPM is used by project managers to evaluate the least amount of time required to finish each task with the least amount of delay.
Cost Analysis
The entire idea of cost of production or definition of production cost is applied corresponding or we can say that it is related to investment or money cost. Money cost or investment refers to any money expenditure which the firm or supplier or producer undertakes in purchasing or hiring factor of production or factor services.
Inventory Management
Inventory management is the process or system of handling all the goods that an organization owns. In simpler terms, inventory management deals with how a company orders, stores, and uses its goods.
Project Management
Project Management is all about management and optimum utilization of the resources in the best possible manner to develop the software as per the requirement of the client. Here the Project refers to the development of software to meet the end objective of the client by providing the required product or service within a specified Period of time and ensuring high quality. This can be done by managing all the available resources. In short, it can be defined as an application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to meet the objective of the Project. It is the duty of a Project Manager to achieve the objective of the Project as per the specifications given by the client.
In 2005, British Telecom (BT) took a big risk: the company dropped its use of the waterfall system development process and embraced agile development. Previously, BT had outsourced the gathering of system requirements to a third company, which would typically take three to nine months to meet with customers and stakeholders and create a requirements list. Next, the project would move back to BT where programmers often struggled to interpret the requirements and then develop and test the system within 18 months — although some projects needed more time. In late 2005, however, BT took only 90 days to roll out a new Web-based system for monitoring phone traffic. The new system allowed traffic managers to change switches and other physical devices more quickly in order to handle shifts in load along BT’s telecommunications network. The success of this initial project reverberated throughout the IT world, as BT became the first telecommunications giant to adopt agile development—sometimes developing products in three 30-day iterative cycles.
The new system development approach had other advantages, too: programmers and customers communicated closely and teams from different locations around the world, initially the United Kingdom and India, worked together to develop the system. To overcome customer doubts, BT invited them to development “hot houses” to see how the agile development process worked. Many customers became such ardent believers that they adopted the agile approach themselves. In 2010, BT used its new system development process to create the 21st Century Next Generation Access Network process, which enjoyed an 80 percent return on its initial investment within its first year. Today, BT deploys agile development to service its customers across the globe.
In 2014, for example, BT applied the agile approach to deploy telepresence solutions for the international energy and chemical producer Sasol, a company with over 34,000 employees based in 37 countries. To oversee its operations and interact with clients, senior Sasol managers based in South Africa were traveling millions of miles each year, which was not good for the managers, the company’s budget, or the planet. As an alternative, BT installed telepresence suites across South Africa and in Houston, London, Calgary, and Hamburg. Sasol achieved a 100 percent usage rate at each of these suites, and BT secured a five-year contract to provide continued support.
BT had one major concern about agile develop ent :previously, the company had conducted 16 or 17 types of tests before deploying a new system. Many feared that a shorter life cycle meant compromising on quality assurance. However, BT now continues testing with customers after system setup and finds that testing the product with customer involvement has significant advantages.
“The main advantage I see is that you spend more time working on the right [system] features by talking to customers all the time and working on it,” says Kerry Buckley, a software developer who worked on the initial phone-traffic monitoring system. Moreover, software engineers working at BT are excited about working on customer-facing live applications. As one engineer notes, “All your work matters and will be released to the public.” Agile development at BT has taken system developers out of their isolated bubble, inspiring them, and proving to the IT world that agile development can work.
2. Identify key issues and identify one problem you wish to resolve in your analysis. The problem statement should be clear and concise. A problem statement is typically no more than one sentence in length.
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