Software Development Activity Cycles: Collaborative Development, Continuous Testing and User Acceptance

The principal benefit this book is to provide a holistic and comprehensible view of the entire software development process, including ongoing evolution and support. It treats development as a collaborative effort with triad communication between a tester, a programmer, and a representative from the user community or a Subject Matter Expert (SME). Progress is measured by user acceptance in each cycle before proceeding to the next step of an activity. There is no test stage in the DPAC model: continuous testing is represented in the backswing (Check Phase) of each activity cycle.

This approach posits that there exists some “happy path” that represents the intent of the project as declared by the objectives of a Vision Statement, and that this path can be revealed by an iterative and incremental process of “freeing the statue from the stone.” As the image of this path unfolds, more waste is removed while retaining conceptual integrity.

The example presented herein walks the reader through an application of the model. This book should be of great interest to Product and Project Managers new to the concept of a lean agile development effort, and all practitioners of an agile methodology or those considering or just beginning an agile journey.

About the Author

Robert F. Rose has provided services to both private and public sectors including telecom and healthcare, NavAir, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD). His experience includes pioneering design and development of a warehouse system for storing and analyzing medical records, design and development of an early prototype logistics tracking system for the V22 Osprey, and design and implementation of a complex enterprise wide web based directory system. Among his accomplishments he was Technical Project Manager for the Presidential Commission’s Inquiry on the Challenger Disaster. The DPAC model is the product of independent efforts both in management and in preparation of the technical approach section for various responses to Requests for Proposals (RFP). Now retired, Robert has pulled together the sum of his experience with the process of developing software into the DPAC framework. It is entirely original work not derivative from other approaches.