A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a university project in java programming that I was participating in. The aim was to write a project management software focussed on the Scrum project management method. So now, about one week after having "finished" the project and sent it to the university staff, it is time to look back and evaluate what we achieved so far, what could have been better and finally also have glimpse on possible future development.

Agile - a mind-blowing Scrum project management tool!
At the beginning we and the university staff defined requirements for the project and collected them in a specification document, these are some of them (translated from German):

• user management, including different user types (eg. administrators), permissions and administrative tasks (eg. changing your personal profile)
• management of projects and related data
• assigning users to projects and defining their role inside the project (eg. Scrum Master, Product Owner ...)
• representing the Scrum process inside the application, i.e. building a Product Backlog from ideas and requirements, defining releases (versions) of a product etc.
• grouping requirements into tasks / defining new tasks and assigning them to project participants
• offering individual information dashboards to users after having logged into a project (depending on their role)
• using different storage types to save your data (such as: txt, Excel, XML, Database)
• painting Burndown charts to visualise the progress of a sprint or a release
• (...)

However, we were not able to complete all of the requirements as it turned out that our project was rather extensive (mor, having in mind the limited time and the fact that all three of as were bloody beginners concerning Java programming. Additionally, I think the university staff did completely recognize the amount of work, which certain requirements included.

Nevertheless we managed to develop a software tool that - from my point of view - captures nearly all mentioned requirements, is easily expandable to support new functionality and has a stunning look (which has actually already been confirmed by our tutors)! Convince yourself and have a look on some of our screenshots down below! They might give you an insight of what the tool can do.

Things to learn from the project
Leaving five intensive weeks of programming behind, there were a couple of things that I have learned about Java programming, programming in general, working behaviour inside a team and need of collaboration or leadership and last but not least me and my environment.

• Developing a graphical user interface for Java applications is not like web development! Never expect Java to position GUI-elements where you want them or told them to be.
• Working in a team needs massive collaboration, openness and communication, a clear leadership or social structure and common goals. A combination of all three
• Work-life balance is essential! Less sleep, unhealthy diet, missing social interaction as well as leisure time are counterproductive, even when you're running short of time!
• (...)

What's ahead on the horizon?
The project group has been thinking about publishing the source code of the application under an open source license. I'm actually not sure about the legal conditions for (software) products that were developed during university attendance. What rights and duties do both students and professor have concerning the product?

Depending on the interest in this application, we'll probably also keep on developing further parts of it, such as

• storing the application data in XML files
• drawing burndown charts
• improving the user interface
• data storage in a database
• (...)

However, all of these are definitely only (some of many) potential improvements without any reliance that they will ever be developed.

If you are interested in learning more about the application, having a look at it or developing further functionality feel free to leave a comment down below or contact me.