The Essentials of Modern Software Engineering. Ivar Jacobson

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Figure 5.5 The Code work product card.

      Code is the example of a work product for our programming practice. We provide a concise description of this work product in the form of a poker-sized card, as shown in Figure 5.5.

      Note that the work products you produce do not belong to the common ground represented by the Essence standard. They are dependent on how you want to work (which practices you want to use). Thus, Essence does not specify exactly which work products are to be developed, but it does precisely specify what work products are, how you represent them, and what you can do with them.

      Work products can have different levels of detail. In a development endeavor, the degree of detail needed in work products can vary greatly, depending on many factors such as past history of team members working together, customer requirements, regulatory requirements (e.g., regulation for software validation of medical devices), and organizational policies.

      In TravelEssence, for example, Smith’s team expressed requirements through use case narratives, which we will cover in Part III. These also have different levels of detail. For simple requirements, Smith’s team did not need as many specifics, but relied on more direct communication with their stakeholders. However, for more sophisticated requirements involving complicated calculation and decision rules, Smith had more complete explanations in his use case narratives.

      Practitioners often have trouble figuring out how detailed the various work products they produce should be. Explicit practices, which we will cover in later parts of the book, can provide guidance on this.

5.3 Competencies

      The team members applying the programming practice must, of course, be able to program; that is, they must have a development competency. Competencies are the abilities needed when applying a practice. Often, software teams struggle because they don’t have all the abilities needed for the task they have been given. In these situations, a coach can help by explaining different ways the practitioner can address the problem, such as learning something that is missing in their competencies.

      Figure 5.6 shows the card for the Development competency. Similar in format to the alpha and work product cards, the top of a competency card has the competency icon (a star) and the competency name followed by a very brief description of the competency. Then a list of competency levels follows.