7 Prioritize effort when you aren’t perfect

The end of every semester is typically the same as most students feel overwhelmed with exams, homework assignments, and large projects that are due. We encourage students to try their best and realistically prioritize if needed. This Software Engineering course culminates in a large group project implementation with a live demo and the respective documentation. So, what happens when a team is not able to finish the project? The answer is that the team needs to prioritize their effort. They have a limited time budget and must optimize their time to earn as many points as possible.

When perfection is not an option for the respective schedule, teams should plan to work so that they earn the most return on their effort.

Prioritize based on your requirements and consider the following:

• How many points is each requirement worth?
• Which requirements are dependent on others?
• Approximately how much time will it take to implement, test, and document each requirement?

• In this exercise, create a table with your prioritization plan. Identify the requirements that are at risk, the number of points at risk, and plan to address each.