Software Engineering

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CHAPTER 4 
Understanding the Software Project Environment
Software development projects with little or no software engineering practices 
have very little chance of success. Conducting software development without an 
effective software engineering approach is analogous to building a house without 
the architectural and engineering drawings. It would not be wise to permit the con-
struction of a house to begin without the architectural drawings being finalized. 
Then why would it be acceptable to begin coding without the software product’s 
architecture being available? Software engineering practices provide the following 
advantages to the software development project:
●
  Maintain the balance between the total technical effort and project objectives.
●
  Establish the software product architecture.
●
  Control the complexity of the software product.
●
  Coordinate change proposals and requests with all stakeholders.
●
  Coordinate organizational work plans to maintain alignment of technical plans 
with project objectives.
The remainder of this chapter identifies and discusses the software engineer-
ing practices and tools that contribute to achieving software product and project 
alignment.
FIGURE 4.1
Role of software engineering within a project environment.

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FIGURE 4.2
Software development work products.

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