Step 2: Planning the project

Now that the project exists, we can start the planning of our work. We will begin by selecting our our newly created project via the active task selector. The dashboard will automatically select the first step in the PSP2.1 process, which is Planning. Next we will click the play button on the dashboard to start timing our planning activities. When the play button is pressed, a quiet "clicking" sound will be heard. This sound will be heard anytime the dashboard switches phases of activity while the clock is running.

The PSP provides scripts for planning, development, postmortem work, etc., so let's go look at the planning script for our new PSP2.1 project. We do this by clicking the script button and choosing "PSP2.1 Planning Script" from the script menu. The planning script will appear in a web browser.

Reading through the script, we see that once we understand the requirements for this program, we need to do a size estimate. To guide our estimation, we can use the PROBE method. Following the PROBE method link on the planning script brings up the PROBE Estimating Script.

Reading through this script we see that once we have produced a conceptual design, we need to fill out the Size Estimating Template. The dashboard provides both the template itself and the instruction script for its use. Following the link for the Size Estimating Template brings up a dynamic HTML version of the template. For ready reference, the template has a link near the top to display the Size Estimating Template instructions form. If you click on this link, a second browser will be started so that you can have the instructions and the template side by side on your screen. For more information on the Size Estimating Template, see the Size Estimating Template help topic.

The Size Estimating Template Instructions direct us to count the base LOC and enter it in the Base Parts section if this is an enhancement of a previous program. We're modifying an existing program, so we use the LOC counter to measure the size of the components we plan to modify, and enter that number in this section.

The Parts Additions section will be the places for most of our estimating. Based on our conceptual design, we enter several lines describing the work we plan to do. For each item, we estimate the type, number of methods, and LOC estimates. The "add more rows for new objects" link will expand the form with more entries if chosen.

We don't anticipate reusing any code, so we will skip that section.

Moving on to the size calculation, we need to calculate the estimated added & modified LOC using PROBE. There are at least two ways to do this: with the PROBE Wizard or with the PROBE tool. (The PROBE Wizard automates the standard PSP PROBE process, and is simpler to use; the PROBE tool is more complex to use but provides more power for custom statistical analyses.) Most people will want to use the PROBE Wizard for all their planning needs, so we will use the wizard for this example. After you complete the top portion of the Size Estimating Template, you can launch the PROBE wizard by clicking on the hyperlink halfway down the page.

The PROBE Wizard consists of a series of dialogs that guide you through the PROBE process.

The PROBE script gives several ways to calculate an estimate. The PROBE Wizard displays these methods side by side and ranks them, advising us which method may be the most reliable. By simply following the prompts, we decide in this example to select method C2 for size and then choose C2 for time. As we make these choices, the resulting values are automatically written into the appropriate fields of the Size Estimating Template.

After our planning efforts on this form it looks like the following:

When we bring up the Project Plan Summary, we see that the planning data is all entered automatically. Time to click the little done button on the dashboard and move on into design!

Note also that when the dashboard moves into a new phase while the timer is running, a little "clicking" noise is made. This little bit of feedback assures us that the timer is still running.

Next step: Designing the program

Jump to step:
     START
     1. Creating the project
     2. Planning the project
     3. Designing the program
     4. Writing the code
     5. Compiling the program
     6. Testing the program
     7. Postmortem