MSc in Agile Software Engineering Techniques
Outline
Today, software is becoming ever more complex, developed with a very short time to market, and required to cope with changing requirements. This scenario calls for increased levels of flexibility and agility, both in the technologies used and the processes followed for engineering software. This MSc will provide a sound background on the methods and techniques that can meet these challenges. Hands-on modules based on the Eclipse framework will ensure that this knowledge is framed in practical contexts of usage.
The market
Gartner, one of world's leading analysts, have been emphasising the importance of increasing the need for a business' IT systems to become more agile to deal with change, accepting that these systems have previously been sold and implemented with a static view of operations. They have been predicting that radical change will occur as organisations realise that IT must act as a key driver for business change.
Both the latest business strategy and software development methodology aspire to be agile. "There are a lot of companies experimenting with, or about to experiment with, agile software development," said Steve Gedney, managing director of Borland's UK operations, to the Financial Times in November 2007.
So what is it all about? The Financial Times article, aptly called "Flexibility takes over from plans in an agile world", quotes Professor Donald Sull of the London Business School to define it as "a company's ability consistently to identify and seize opportunities more quickly and effectively than rivals." What is clear is that agility is having strategic implications in the way companies and organisations are planning to use IT, leading to a new range of technical skills that software engineers need to acquire.
Course Structure
The course comprises six compulsory modules (including an individual project) and three optional modules.
Compulsory modules
- Domain Specific Languages
- Generative Development
- Personal and Group Skills
- Service-Oriented Architectures
- System Re-engineering
- Individual project
Optional modules
Three of the following, at most two of which can be from column 1
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*These modules are run by the Department of Mathematics and can only be taken with the permission of the relevant module convenor.
