CSSE 221: Fundamentals of Software Development 1—Mini project

Problem Statement and Proposed Solution

Overview

This document describes one portion of your team’s work on your Mini Project. The document begins with a description of the general guidelines for this work. Please read and follow these guidelines. Following the guidelines are some resources that should help you complete the work. Skim the resources before beginning the work and refer back to them as necessary. After the resources is a step-by-step listing of the work that your team needs to do for this portion of your Mini Project.

Guidelines

Please recall that in ALL your work on the Mini and Capstone projects, ALL members of your team:

• Must participate fully in ALL the process
• Must understand the basic ideas of ALL aspects of the project
• Are responsible for ensuring the above
  • Bring your instructor into the loop if necessary

Resources

The following information may be useful to you in completing this portion of your team’s work. Skim this section, then refer back to it as necessary.

Problem Statements

Begin by describing a significant real world problem that your audience can relate to. Show a concrete example of this problem. This will serve as a "hook" to get the attention of your audience and convince them of the importance of the project. Next you want to focus in on the part of the problem you want to attack. So follow your example by focusing on a small but significant portion of the problem. This is the part that you are proposing to tackle.

Proposed Solution

Having hooked your audience into the problem, now you want to paint a picture of what the world will be like when you solve the problem. Your proposed solution should relate the current situation to a desired result and describe the benefits that will accrue when the desired result is achieved. So, begin your proposed solution by briefly describing this desired result.

After describing this result, you need to show your audience how you will lead them there. Between the current situation and the desired result are a series of ÒdeliverablesÓ. For the initial proposal you should just describe the final product. The detailed deliverables will be itemized in your requirements documents and iterative enhancement plan (more on this later).

Instructions

With your teammates, write a two paragraph document:

1. The first paragraph should be a problem statement for your Mini project.
   • This should be brief — a 100-word paragraph is typical.
   • Refer to the Resources section above for additional pointers.
2. The second paragraph should be a proposed solution for your Mini project.
   • This should be brief — again a 100-word paragraph is typical.
   • You won’t be required to complete the entire project, just to make a good start. So, don’t worry about including things that you don’t know how to do. Part of the fun of software development is that our raw materials are so malleable.
   • Again, refer to the Resources section above for additional pointers.

In your document, strive for clarity and conciseness. Imagine that you are trying to convince a governmental agency that they should fund this project.