Week 3- Good feedback received

We started off by discussing the research activity undertaken by us the previous week. I and Agrima interviewed 6 random people and told them a few terms related to the latest technological designs and noted what was the first thing that came to their mind when they listened to that particular word. The words ranged from superb, excellent to complex and useless. We received a positive feedback from Prof Higgins on that. We also discussed and assessed the techniques used by others which included- Look (Observation), learn (engaging with people and taking feedback), ask (evaluating proposed designs), and try (practically performing a technique or simulating the environment). Ours was an example of the ‘Ask’ technique.

We then moved on to the Life cycles and its different types and tried to get the most accurate definition of the word- Life Cycle. Some of the general forms discussed were the initially used and very famous- Waterfall model which fixed the requirements at the beginning and then went on to undertake other steps, but changing the requirements in a waterfall model is quite difficult. Spiral model also presented the increase/decrease of the risk along with the passing stages of development.

This also reminded me of the RAD- Rapid Application Model studied during my undergraduate degree which had the option of going back to a previous level if something goes wrong and also focusses on making a quick prototype of the software as soon as the requirements are finalised (hence the name- Rapid). We also had a look at the photos of some of the design failures and design beauties.

We were also instructed to think & decide upon our research projects to be undertaken.