Activity: Inception Iteration [1..n]
Activities performed in a typical iteration in Inception phase, the involved roles and main objectives.
DescriptionWork Breakdown StructureTeam AllocationWork Product Usage
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Description

Introduction

The project starts with the assumption that the business case has been created, the Project Manager has been identified, the team (at least for the first iteration) has been also defined, the development environment (including tools and infrastructure) is in place and the process to be followed is the delivery process suggested by OpenUP/Basic (varying on number of iterations per phase and iteration length).

Below you find the activities performed in a typical iteration during Inception phase.

Initiate Project

This activity takes place in the beginning of the first iteration, when the project starts. The multiple roles involved at this time collaborate to perform this activity as follows:

  • Analyst and Stakeholder roles define the Vision for the project, capturing the customer needs and features for the system to be. Needs and features are captured to the extent required to having agreement between Analyst and Stakeholders and project team about the project scope.
  • Project Manager – with collaboration and agreement of Stakeholders, Analyst and Tester roles – proposes a high level project plan containing the milestones for the four phases and a number of time-boxed iterations per phase. This plan – and allocation of staff to the project – evolves throughout the phases to reflect the project pace, as needed.
Manage Requirements

As the project is initated, the Analyst elicits requirements from Analyst and Stakeholders and captures them in a Work Items List. As needed, requirements are outlined and detailed in separate artifacts (for example, in Use-Case specifications) at the extent needed to provide information for the Architect to create a prototype of the architecture and for the Project Manager to scope and plan the next iteration.

Determine Architectural Feasibility

Based on requirements being captured and detailed in parallel with this activity, the Architect analyzes the architectural constraints and leverages the available assets and technology in order to propose an Architectural Proof-of-Concept. This early architectural prototype is used to both demonstrate the feasibility of the project using the selected candidate architecture and also to mitigate one or more architecturally significant risks.

Manage Iteration

The ongoing work performed by the Project Manager to initiate and conduct a given iteration happens in this activity. It consists of status reporting, handling of exceptions and problems, risks identification and work reprioritization as needed.

Assess and Plan Next Iteration

This activity is performed towards the end of the iteration. The Project Manager conducts an Status Assessment with the team and Analyst and Stakeholders.

In the case the iteration end coincides with the phase end, the objectives for that phase should be used as success criteria for leaving the iteration. The iteration assessment should verify that the objectives for the Iteration phase have been achieved: agreement on the key functionalities and at least one possible solution for the system to be, as well as a reasonable understanding of cost, schedule and risks associated with the project.

Based on demonstration of key functionalities and architectural feasibility during the assessment, it becomes clear that either the project can proceed at the given pace or reprioritization of work needs to happen. As a consequence, Project Manager may need to refine project scope and duration.

The next iteration is then planned, using the results from current iteration and prioritized work items as input. While the assessment typically happens on the last few days of an iteration, the planning for next iteration may start before, being finalized with the input of data gathered from the assessment of the current iteration.

Properties
Event-Driven
Multiple Occurrences
Ongoing
Optional
Planned
Repeatable
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