If you are looking for a course that gives you a leg up in the software systems world, look no further than Dr. Ram Chillarege’s Software Systems Engineering course. Knowing methods used in software engineering is key to becoming the best, well-rounded systems engineer that you can be. We began our studies by taking a look at several different types of software development models including agile, spiral, and waterfall methodologies. As we progressed further into the course we gained enough knowledge in order to combine into teams for a group project which was to define and develop a software product of our choosing. Much like a business course, the group’s first task was to develop a product vision statement which is essential for beginning to derive business requirements and use cases. We then incorporated a little systems UML modeling by creating sequence diagrams and context diagrams to give our products more logic and meaning. What sets this course apart from traditional software courses is that we are lucky to have Ram’s seasoned expertise in a software defect tracking technique called Orthogonal Defect Classification which is a powerful tool to help make engineering decisions before disaster strikes and money is lost. This is a new tool that I have never been exposed to in my engineering studies and it is without a doubt a main reason as to why this course is transformative to anyone’s previous software engineering knowledge base. You aren’t going to get this type of knowledge from another professor here or from any university’s lesson plans, and to get the knowledge straight from the inventor/developer himself is unmatched! By applying ODC to our group project, we were able to analyze the types of defects based on the impact to the product/stakeholder and the triggers that caused the defect to occur in the first place. I recommend this course to anyone who is looking for an enriching and personalized experience in software development as Ram truly wants his students to understand the material and succeed in software development and engineering.
Dana Routsis
SYS579E SW Sys Eng, 2020