CompSci 408 : Fall 2025

SAS Field Trip is scheduled for Wednesday, November 19, from 3-5pm
Current Readings
- What is Agile Mindset? from Head First Agile by Jennifer Greene, Andrew Stellman
- Differences between Agile and Cowboy Coding by Mike Carey
- We see Crunch as Failure, interview with Grant Rodiek
Upcoming Deadlines
- License Justification, due by the end of the day Wednesday, November 19
- Final User Testing (tasks and survey), due by the end of the day Friday, November 21
- Final Team Contract, due by the end of the day Monday, November 24
- Sprint 5: Beta, due Monday, December 1 in class
- Production Milestone as Issues, due by the end of the day Wednesday, December 3

Current Readings
- Release Management Best Practices by Plutora
- Pick a License, Any License by Jeff Atwood
- Why Open Source Software Is Not as Ethical as You Think It Is by Ben Werdmuller
Upcoming Deadlines
- Alpha Milestone as Issues in Gitlab, due by the end of the day Wednesday, October 29
- Midpoint Team Review, due by the end of the day Friday, October 31
- Release Management Plan, due by the end of the day Monday, November 3
- Test Plan in Gitlab Wiki, due by the end of the day Friday, November 7
- Sprint 4: Alpha due Monday, November 10 in class
  This version of the app must deployed on the Client's device or their environment (e.g., on a server they can control)
- Beta Milestone as Issues in Gitlab, due by the end of the day Wednesday, November 12
- Test Plan Implemented, due by the end of the day Friday, November 14

Current Readings
- Nurturing a Team to High Performance by Matthew Hughes
- Developing TeamWisdom for Personal Success from Teamwork Is An Individual Skill by Christopher Avery, Meri Walker, and Erin O'Toole Murphy
- Software Architecture Design Reasoning by Antony Tang, Jun Han, and Rajesh Vasa
Upcoming Deadlines
- Team Contract Version 2 in Gitlab Wiki, due by the end of the day Friday, October 17
- Accessibility Plan, in Gitlab Wiki, due by the end of the day Wednesday, October 22
- Design Justification, in Gitlab Wiki, due by the end of the day Friday, October 24
- Sprint 3: Baseline Demo, due Monday, October 27 in class

The course Gitlab server will be down for maintenance during Fall Break on Monday, October 13 from 8am-5pm
Duke's LLM services will be down for maintenance during Fall Break on Tuesday, October 14, from 8-9am
Current Readings
- Lean Data Practices at Mozilla
- Standup Meetings 101 by Tim Metz
- Definition of Done by Mayank Gupta
Upcoming Deadlines
- Baseline Milestone as Issues in Gitlab, due by the end of the day Friday, October 10

Current Readings
- Agile Sprint Planning (with FAQ)
- Follow the Rhythm of Your Teammates by Kenneth Foster
- What is Kanban? by Julia Wester
Upcoming Deadlines
- Project Plan in Gitlab Wiki, due by the end of the day Wednesday, October 1
- Project Plan as Gitlab Issues, due by the end of the day Friday, October 3
- Sprint 2: Prototype Demo, due Monday, October 6 in class

Current Readings
- Understanding The Agile Mindset by Steve Denning
- Validating Design with Low-fidelity Wireframes by Robert Smith
- Usability 101 by Jacob Nielsens
Upcoming Deadlines
- Warmup Spike, Phase 2, due by the end of the day Thursday, September 18

Current Readings
- Scrum Guide by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland
- User Personas from the Interaction Design Foundation
- Tips for Writing Good User Stories by Roman Pichler
Upcoming Deadlines
- Team Contract First Draft in Gitlab Wiki, due by the end of the day Wednesday, September 17
- User Interview Report in Gitlab Wiki, due by the end of the day Friday, September 19
- Sprint 1: Pretotype Demo, due in class Monday, September 22
- Project Contract in Gitlab Wiki, due by the end of the day Wednesday, September 24
- Wireframe User Test Report, in Gitlab Wiki, due by the end of the day Friday, September 26

Upcoming Deadlines
- Warmup Spike, Phase 1, due by the end of the day Thursday, September 11

Current Readings
- Empathy in UX Design from UX Planet
- Human Change Management by Mark J. Dawson and Mark L. Jones
- Using Ethics In Web Design by Morten Rand-Hendriksen
Upcoming Deadlines
- Executive Summary in Gitlab Wiki, due by the end of the day Wednesday, September 10

Welcome to CompSci 408!
- This website is your primary portal to the course: you are responsible for all material that appears here and should check for updates frequently
- Please help me make this course as useful as possible for you by letting me know as soon as possible if you need help or if something is not working for you
You are encouraged to take Duke's Roots Courses, since you will likely be learning a new language, framework, or technology outside of class this semester to complete your project
Current Readings
- Tapworthy, Chapter 1, by Josh Clark
- Mythical Man Month, by Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
- Mental Health in Software Engineering by Vadim Kravcenko
- Coding and Coping with ChatGPT by Kevin Workman at Happy Coding
Upcoming Deadlines
- Project Preferences, due by the end of the day Thursday, August 28
  Note, use the Ed Discussion Board to ask clients clarifying questions about their projects by 4pm on Thursday