sample task
Gergő Pintér, PhD
gergo.pinter@uni-corvinus.hu
sample task – flashcard application
The prepresentative of a language association entrusts your software development company to create a flashcard application, which will help people to learn a minority language. The task is to design this software.
the user story
We would like you to create a flashcard app for smartphones. Just the usual stuff: it shows cards and then if needed it shows the other side of the card with the meaning.
Oh, and words should be in groups. A word can appear in multiple groups. The user selects a group to practice. Then, the app shows a card with the word (or expression) in the target language. The user can do 3 things:
- Tap the card to show its other side, both sides should be shown at the same time,
- The use can swipe left to indicate that they do not know the word, or
- swipe to right indicating the they know the word well.
The app should count the swipes and keep statistics. And one more thing: the statistics should be tracked per user basis.
requirements analysis
- starts with understanding the task
- read, reread, and reflect on it
- collect every detail, specifically the ambiguous parts
- take notes, maybe draw
why do requirements analysis?
one reason is
![the rising costs of finding and fixing defects based on Figure 3.4 of [1] (Ambler, 2002)](../lectures/figures/cost_of_fixing.drawio.svg)
based on Figure 3.4 of [1] (Ambler, 2002)
why do requirements analysis well?
misunderstanding the task can cost a lot
![the decreasing probability of introducing defects based on Figure 3.3 of [1] (Ambler, 2002)](../lectures/figures/introducing_defects.drawio.svg)
based on Figure 3.3 of [1] (Ambler, 2002)
the user story
We would like you to create a flashcard app for smartphones. Just the usual stuff: it shows cards and then if needed it shows the other side of the card with the meaning.
Oh, and words should be in groups. A word can appear in multiple groups. The user selects a group to practice. Then, the app shows a card with the word (or expression) in the target language. The user can do 3 things:
- Tap the card to show its other side, both sides should be shown at the same time,
- The use can swipe left to indicate that they do not know the word, or
- swipe to right indicating the they know the word well.
The app should count the swipes and keep statistics. And one more thing: the statistics should be tracked per user basis.
We would like you to create a flashcard app for smartphones. Just the usual stuff: it shows cards and then if needed it shows the other side of the card with the meaning.
Oh, and words should be in groups. A word can appear in multiple groups. The user selects a group to practice. Then, the app shows a card with the word (or expression) in the target language. The user can do 3 things:
- Tap the card to show its other side, both sides should be shown at the same time,
- The use can swipe left to indicate that they do not know the word, or
- swipe to right indicating the they know the word well.
The app should count the swipes and keep statistics. And one more thing: the statistics should be tracked per user basis.
let’s collect the requirements
with a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) diagram skeleton
questions
- “per user basis”
- might indicate user management
- create, read, update, and delete (CRUD)
- log in, log out
- or it can be completely offline
- might indicate user management
- “user selects a group”
- is this action starts the “game”
- it is not mentioned explicitly, but cards management is possible
required
- CRUD
- sort into group
- remove from group
- “word can appear in multiple group”
- one to many connection!
- “keeps statistics”
- for what purpose? only to display it, or for the repetition mechanics?
additional questions
- which platforms should be supported?
- what does ‘per user basis’ mean?
- who and how creates the cards?
- what is the teaching language?
- only one language supported?
- does the front side of a card contain only a word/expression?
- any additional info like word class
- does the back side of a card contain only a meaning?
- any additional comments or connected words
- price of the application?
- subscription model / one time payment / free
possible architecture
evaluation
- simple
- it can contain advanced features like detailed statistics for the user, but it is stored on the device
- telemetry is possible to add if the customer require some statistics above what the app store provide
- the application package contains everything
- including the word database
- does not depend on internet collection
these are just some considerations, the customer needs to decide
possible architecture 2
evaluation
- more complicated, it consists of two different software
- the server need to run constantly otherwise the application may be
unusable
- depends on the implementation
- the server need to run constantly otherwise the application may be
unusable
- can support subscription model
- needs payment handling, which complicates things further
- the application package can still contain the word database
- but the available word packages can be controlled based on the subscription plan
- it may depend on internet collection
- for authentication/authorization
- for account syncronization
- subscription
these are just some considerations, the customer needs to decide
customer wants telemetry
- app is like in scenario 1
- but we need to run a server for the telemetry
- at least the communication is one directional
- like architecture 1, we only build the app
- telemetry is outsourced the a 3rd party service
- not our responsibility!
database transfer
- cutomer is a language association, probably doesn’t have technical
expertise
- they’ll probably send an excel file in e-mail
- can we load the into an app?
- of course
- do we want to do that?
- not necessarily
database transfer
think over every possibility
- it is acceptable to provide alternatives for the customer
- they often don’t even know what they want
- to provide the alternatives, you have to think them over
- it is also necessary for the price estimation
- start with bird’s eye view
- then focus on the details more and more
references
requirements analysis in as a mindmap
with an incomplete requirements analysis