Category Archives: CS-348

Why Software Maintenance Matters for Business Success

Recently AWS servers were not working due to something causing one third of the internet to go down. It made me start to think about what maintenance companies like Amazon have to have in order to make sure clients’ websites or programs do not get shut down. Then I found an article about Software maintenance explaining in a software engineer’s perspective on what happens with a product already made but has to be maintained. 

It starts to explain that software maintenance branches between bug fixes, adding new features, adding new hardware or software environments. At the end of the day the software has to work, be secure, efficient, and meet the users demands. As mentioned earlier there are multiple different types of software maintenance: bug fixes, patches, adaptive maintenance, optimizations, preventive maintenance. 

As programs get used or the amount of users start to increase companies have to consider that users might face bugs. These bugs can affect user experiences that might cause the company to lose a potential sale and even get bad reviews. These bugs can range from small coding errors or errors that might affect the user experience. 

In the future there is always the risk of needing to add patches to fix something very quickly. For example many companies would get hacked and have to undo the damage hackers might do to their program. Even though it could be an extreme case like getting hacked it could be a major update to the software that might be needed. 

Moving on to Adaptive Maintenance, it is about whether customers might want a new feature added to the software. Which could even change involving the environment, hardware, business wants, or new regulations that apply to the company. For example in the past the U.S government added a law to ensure the privacy of online users to prevent websites collecting data on users without consent.

Another type of maintenance is Perfective maintenance but to me I consider it optimizations. This can be either the consistency of the performance of a program and reliability. In addition, to make the software be flexible when adding new features or changes to it. 

The last type of Maintenance is Preventive maintenance. These could be features that make the program to be more secure, frequently tested, constant documents being made, and backups. This type of maintenance is to make sure potential problems can be fixed as quickly as possible and be tested so that it does not impact the user experience. 

From the blog CS@Worcester – Site Title by Ben Santos and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

REST API Design Practices

Link: https://stackoverflow.blog/2020/03/02/best-practices-for-rest-api-design/

In the blog post “Best practices for REST API design,” the authors go over important guidelines for designing any type of web service through the REST architecture style. They first go over the definition of a REST API, which is an interface that follows stateless communication and cacheability, as well as other constraints. They then show off a set of recommendations for good practices, such as using nouns and not verbs in endpoint paths, accepting and responding with JSON, logically nesting hierarchical resources, handling errors with standard HTTP status codes, and many more. The blog post emphasizes greatly that keeping names consistent and adhering to web standards will ultimately make APIs easier for maintainers and clients, as it will be easier for clients to use and maintainers to support. It would also make it much easier for systems to scale properly.

I selected this blog post because we are currently talking about this topic, and we have a homework assignment going over this topic so I thought it would be helpful to gain a deeper understanding of it. Also, in past courses, such as Unix Systems Programming, we would focus on architecture and backend systems, but I never really gave it a deeper look. This blog post gives very clear guidelines for REST API design, which can be very valuable in my career if I end up working in software or if I have to build or interact with APIs in the future. In the future, I plan on applying these principles if I ultimately have to design or integrate REST services, which could be through setting up a microservice in the cloud or even connecting to one as a consumer. I will definitely look to follow the guidelines listed in the blog post, as I believe that following those will provide a good baseline for my work. These API design patterns can also help me with projects, as I can ensure that my interface layers are clean and intuitive.

Overall, I thought that this blog post was very helpful and informative, as it provided a lot of clarity on the guidelines for REST API design. Their point about using nouns in endpoint paths was a very good point, as it is better for HTTP verbs to be doing the action. While it is a small naming decision, it can end up making a big difference when it comes to readability and maintainability. In the end, this blog post improved my understanding of REST API design practices and showed me that good design isn’t just about the efficiency of the algorithms and resources, but it is also about the service and client experience.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Coding Canvas by Sean Wang and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Understanding Scrum

My understanding of Scrum is that it isn’t just a process or checklist; it’s a lightweight framework for solving complex problems through collaboration, transparency, and continuous improvement. The Scrum Guide defines Scrum as: “a lightweight framework that helps people, teams, and organizations generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems.” The framework is based on … Read more

From the blog CS@Worcester – BforBuild by Johnson K and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

BLOG 2 – Agile vs Scrum

There are many different methodologies that can be used for project management. The two that I would like the most are Agile methodology and Scrum methodology. So, what are the differences between these two methodologies, and when is choosing the right one? In this article, I want to summarize the key differences between agile and Scrum methodologies based on what I just read from Northeastern University Graduate Programs. Their article is really helpful for me and you to understand what they are and their differences. The article link is posted below. Feel free to check it out for further information: 

Agile vs. Scrum: What’s the Difference?

Agile vs. Scrum: What’s the Difference?

By Shayna Jouber

What is Agile Project Management? 

People say that Agile is a way of thinking about project management that focuses on delivering in small steps, being in touch with customers, and being able to adapt to change. Agile doesn’t tell you what process to use; instead, it gives you ideals and principles (like those in the Agile Manifesto) that you may use with other methods (like Scrum, Kanban, XP, etc.).\

Important traits: constant communication with customers and end users, willingness to change the scope of work, and delivering work in small steps.

What is Scrum Project Management?

One such approach in the Agile family is Scrum. It offers a clear procedure for handling tasks, including who completes them, how they are arranged, and when they are finished.

Typical Scrum responsibilities include a cross-functional team, a product owner who is in charge of optimizing the product’s value, and a scrum master who makes sure the team follows Scrum procedures.

Work is divided into sprints, which typically last two to four weeks. The team decides which subset of the scope to finish at a sprint planning meeting. Every sprint concludes with a review and retrospective to consider what was accomplished and make improvements.

Frequent delivery of “shippable” increments as opposed to waiting until the project is finished to provide everything is one of the clear benefits.

Agile vs Scrum – Key differences 

Agile is the underlying idea or strategy, and Scrum is a way to put Agile into practice.

Scrum is always Agile since it adheres to Agile principles, but utilizing Agile does not imply using Scrum; you may choose to use another Agile methodology instead.

Choosing the Right Methodology 

  • Agile: Agile makes sense if the project requires flexibility, frequent testing, stakeholder feedback, and shifting requirements.
  • Scrum: Scrum usually works well in situations with a lot of uncertainty, rapid changes, and the ability to arrange into sprint cycles.

Selecting the approach is only one aspect of it; another is having strong communication, leadership, critical thinking, project management, and organizational dynamics skills.

Conclusion 

Don’t use “Agile” and “Scrum” interchangeably; Agile is more comprehensive, and Scrum is one way to achieve it.

Before choosing Agile, consider the context of your project; if you decide on Agile, select the appropriate approach.

Methodology is only one aspect of successful project management; other factors include teamwork, stakeholder engagement, effective leadership, and flexibility.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Nguyen Technique by Nguyen Vuong and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Understanding Team Management

Proper team management is the crux of a well-oiled workflow and a productive team. This blog post by Alicia Schneider highlights not only what good team management is but also how to achieve that and improve your own management skills. Team management covers not only the coordination of oneself and fellow members of the group, but also facilitating and supporting the members through communication and ensuring a healthy and positive work environment that uplifts and motivates all. Clear roles and tasks through delegation are vital in ensuring that everyone knows their job at the overarching goal, as well as giving credit and praise to those who deserve it for a job well done. There are multiple types of management styles, which include:

Autocratic: Managers make decisions without input from team members

Democratic: Team members share ideas and thoughts in decisions that will affect the team before coming to a consensus

Laissez-faire: The Manager allows the team to self-manage with only minor input

Transformational: Managers’ main goal is to inspire and motivate the team to innovate

Transactional: Reward and penalize team members based on their completion of tasks and following outlined instructions

Collaborative: Managers help the team to work together, while the team focuses on working together and making decisions as a group

Coach: Give guidance, support, and advice to team members to improve and develop skills

Servant: Predominantly focused on fostering the growth of the team members

I chose this topic because it aligns with the current lecture material, such as Scrum and Agile workflows. Team management is key for these. No matter one’s role, there is always self-management and teams working in such close collaboration that everyone is managing each other. While the role of leadership may be delegated to a predefined position in these structures, management still relies on communication between people, such as between developers in the Scrum workflow. After reading the blog post, my overall notion of team management has expanded in terms of how to develop my management ideas. I had originally just seen it as delegating tasks and facilitating discussion, but it is actually much deeper after reading. While I myself may not agree with all of the management styles, I find that there are things that can be pulled from them to become a more effective leader and supportive team member, such as fostering the growth of team members from the “Servant” style, which is a great idea to also implement with the “Coach” style of giving guidance and support. By blending the management styles like this, I believe that it will help to produce not only a more productive team but also a more positive environment with great morale. I look forward to implementing these ideas in my future teams I work in and may lead.

Work Cited:

Schneider, A. (2024, August 21). How to manage a team: 6 powerful tips for team management. Monday. October 22, 2025, https://monday.com/blog/teamwork/team-management/

From the blog CS@Worcester – Dan's Blog by Daniel Fung-A-Fat and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

More Information on Agile and Scrum

I decided to write this self-directed blog entry on an article I found regarding information and differences between Agile and Scrum, two topics we have recently been covering in class. I sought to learn more about these two topics, as I was not entirely confident in my understanding of them. I unfortunately was absent due to an illness on the day we covered the Agile methodology in class, so in order to get a better understanding on the topic, I went through the activity and learned more about it on my own time. This article summarizes what Agile and Scrum are, their differences, the core Agile values and principles, the basics of Scrum, and when and how they should be utilized. This was quite a thorough read and was very informative to reinforce what I had learned from the class. One thing that I did not immediately connect from class was that Scrum was based on the Agile philosophies. As best said in the article, Agile is the guiding principles to shape how you work, Scrum gives a structured playbook to follow.

Though I do not plan to go into software development as a career path, I think this is still a beneficial way to learn quality teamwork and collaboration. Regardless of concentration or field of study, computer science and information systems related disciplines require efficient teamwork and collaboration. Working professionally in the field for four years now, there has never been a project or major task that involved no one besides myself. I always had to work with different teams to accomplish the final goal that was needed. Learning this framework could be very beneficial for me moving forward so I can apply it to my future professional projects. Having better tools almost always leads to a better job done, and I always strive to improve and better myself as a technology professional.

One discovery made from this article is that there are other common implementations of Agile outside of Scrum. One of these, I recognized from my professional experience, as my current organization requires all full-time staff to participate in Lean training. I was not aware that Lean training, which according to the article, “aims to eliminate waste and maximize customer value by focusing on efficiency and continuous improvement,” was an extension of the Agile methodology. This is critical, especially in the healthcare environment that I work in. It is an everchanging field and an environment that can change drastically within a matter of seconds. Though I am not a full-time employee and have yet to participate in that training, I will participate in it once I resume full-time work permanently at the end of December 2025.

ZG

The link to the blog post: https://monday.com/blog/rnd/agile-vs-scrum/

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From the blog CS@Worcester – zach goddard by Zach Goddard and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Working in Agile and Scrum Teams

Source: Hapticmedia and The Scrum Guide

Agile is a methodology that allows for iterative development that is constantly being improved upon for the best product and efficiency. Those who use Agile follow the manifesto, consisting of 4 values and 12 principles of best practices. 

The values are: 

  1. Individuals and Interactions Over Processes and Tools
  2. Working Software Over Comprehensive Documentation
  3. Customer Collaboration Over Contract Negotiation
  4. Responding to Change Over Following a Plan

The first value relates to prioritizing how the team is working as a whole rather than following a strict set of protocols that may hinder productivity. The second value focuses on getting a working product to show the customer over spending too much time on documentation that does not progress the project. The third value involves the customer in the development process, allowing for constant feedback and a product the customer will love. The fourth value is similar to the first, reacting to changes the team needs to make to be more efficient and create a working product is more important than sticking to a plan created in the beginning. 

A type of the Agile methodology is called Scrum. Scrum breaks down a project into small “sprints” where the team works on a small increment of the whole project. In each team there are the Developers, a Product Owner, and a Scrum Master. The Product Owner acts as the communicator between the developers and the customer and maintains a priority list of what needs to be done. The Scrum Master oversees the developers and ensures they are being as effective as they can be. During each sprint, there are 4 main components, the planning meeting, the daily scrum, the sprint review, and the sprint retrospective. The planning meeting happens at the beginning of the sprint and is where the team decides what they will accomplish this sprint. The daily scrum is a daily meeting where everyone decides what they will do that day and what they will do better from the day before. The sprint review is a meeting with the customers/stakeholders where everything that was accomplished is presented. The sprint retrospective is a meeting between the scrum team where they discuss what went well overall and what needs to change for the next sprint. 

Agile is a very effective methodology for software development. Over 85% of developers use it and it improves delivery time and team morale. It also allows for all team members to be on the same level where everyone is important and always making valuable progress. I hope to be in a team that uses Agile because it is the most effective compared to other methods of software development, like Waterfall. I am looking forward to experiencing the Scrum process first-hand in the Software Development Capstone next semester and I have high hopes of what it will do for my long term career.

From the blog ALIDA NORDQUIST by alidanordquist and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Blog Post for Quarter 2

October 21st, 2025

Recently, my class has been going over stuff regarding teamwork and ways to approach building a software or product. For example, the waterfall method, agile methodology, and scrum have come up in discussion. This has reminded me of POGIL since POGIL was a group used in the classroom semi-frequently.

Because of this correlation, I decide to look at blogs about POGIL. However, I noticed something interesting about the blog I chose. So I chose two just because I found some things interesting. The first was made with WordPress.com, much like the one I’m making here. It was about POGIL. The blog appeared to just be called “The POGIL Project.” Or, that’s what I have surmised after looking at the web address. Additionally, there was some interesting notes regarding how it appears to be designed for faculty teaching or implementing POGIL based team activities. However, the last post appears to be in 2015, which is not as recent as I’d like. (However, there appears to be someone who has the same name as the author of this blog who is cited to be impactful to the development of POGIL. Which is pretty cool, though I couldn’t concretely find evidence that they were the same person.)

So, I looked for an alternative. The author was not listed which isn’t great but it is recent. It appears to also be about POGIL. But the most interesting part was how it was applied to science as opposed to actual computer science. Actually, both blogs do that as well.

This new blog I picked was basically an overview of how POGIL works and why it is good to use. It overviewed the reasons why POGIL is used and what it is intended to do. It basically overlaps with what I know about POGIL already.

In a way, this is interesting in how this mean POGIL is both universal and useful. It isn’t just a weird Computer Science class thing we do, it’s an actual science thing. Which is definitely more interesting to know about considering I rarely encountered POGIL before college. It probably won’t really affect my opinion on POGIL but it is mildly interesting how it is something that I’ll see around. I guess I can keep that in mind.

FIRST INITIAL BLOG: https://thepogilproject.wordpress.com/

SECOND, REVIEWED BLOG POST: https://www.transtutor.blog/pogil-guide-high-school-biology

From the blog CS@Worcester – Ryan's Blog Maybe. by Ryan N and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Understanding the Twelve Principles of Agile Software

The 12 Principles of Agile Software explained

For this professional development entry, I chose to read the article titled The Twelve Principles of Agile Software Explained from the Agile Alliance website. The article provides an overview of the core ideas that shape the Agile Manifesto and explains how they guide the way modern software is built. What immediately caught my attention was how the principles focus on people, teamwork, and adaptability rather than strict processes or heavy documentation. The article highlights that Agile is not simply a development framework but a philosophy centered on collaboration and continuous improvement. It emphasizes that successful teams listen to their customers, respond to change quickly, and work together to deliver valuable software frequently rather than saving everything for one big release.

I found this resource helpful because it connects directly with what we have been studying in CS-343 about software processes and team communication. In many group projects, I have experienced situations where rigid planning or lack of communication slowed progress. Reading this article helped me see that Agile’s emphasis on flexibility and open dialogue could have prevented some of those problems. The principle that stood out to me most was “responding to change over following a plan.” This idea made me realize that while planning is important, being adaptable is even more valuable. Real-world projects rarely go exactly as expected, and being able to adjust quickly is a skill that separates good teams from great ones.

Another key takeaway for me was the focus on sustainable development. The article explained that teams should maintain a consistent pace and avoid burnout, which is something I think every computer science student can relate to. It is easy to fall into a cycle of late nights and last-minute fixes, but this principle reminded me that long-term quality depends on balance and discipline. The principle about motivated individuals also resonated with me. It stated that the best results come from trusting team members and giving them the environment and support they need to succeed. I have noticed this in my own coursework; when everyone feels respected and valued, collaboration becomes smoother and creativity increases.

The article also touched on the importance of reflection, encouraging teams to pause regularly to discuss what went well and what could be improved. This aligns perfectly with the concept of continuous improvement that we discuss in class. I learned that retrospectives are not just about fixing mistakes but about strengthening the team’s process as a whole. Moving forward, I plan to apply these ideas in future projects by promoting open communication, being willing to adjust plans when needed, and supporting my teammates in maintaining a healthy work rhythm.

Overall, this resource gave me a deeper understanding of what it truly means to work in an Agile environment. It showed me that Agile is not about speed but about building smarter, more collaborative, and more human-centered teams. The twelve principles serve as a strong foundation for both professional development and teamwork, and I believe they will continue to guide me as I grow in my career as a software developer.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Life of Chris by Christian Oboh and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

BPM On the Up & Up

With the technological advances and innovations in business continue to exponentially grow within their practices. The biggest challenge is all the pressure they face to stay afloat. From high climbing costs to having the fiercest competition with other companies. Long term, this causes danger to viability and businesses cannot afford to screw up continuously. To address these issues, a software has been implemented that eventually became the foundation of “digital transformation”, according to Digital Journal.

This is called Business Process Management (BPM), a software providing tools to quote “streamline processes, manage compliance, and adapt to shifting market conditions”. BPM is used to touch various different areas like different departments, locations, and IT systems. A revolutionary tactic has been made here, due to this process helping managers efficiently track and pinpoint errors & inefficiencies. Also for the team members, they can have a clear understanding of their goals and mission(s). 

Speaking of efficiency, this is essentially the first and most important benefit (arguably) that users hopefully will recognize. A lot more tasks can be completed in a higher-level manner. Let’s use a couple of examples: finance and healthcare. To treat and prevent illnesses, increased automation creates higher capacity. For financing, provider automation keeps secureness over companies against fraud and error. This translates to transparency, where these companies get to view their status and performance, in turn increasing accountability.

Despite the pros, all ideas come with its cons. BPM is not a straightforward process that is easily implemented whatsoever. Some businesses and organizations are limited in terms of skill gaps, fear of change and redesign complexities. In order to resolve this, companies need to broaden their vision by being open to the idea of BPM. Seeing the benefit will lead to greater outcomes in the performance as a whole.

Why is this important to discuss? The business industry is constantly changing, from the amount of businesses being formed, their structure outlines, idea creations, improving outcomes, etc. Depending on the size of the business (whether it’s yours or you work for one), there needs to be some sort of structure and process to have smooth outputs and less friction. For me personally, I knew that all businesses had their own processes in terms of how they’re run, but BPM is a new term I had never really learned or tapped into.

Moving forward, with the knowledge of programming and software development that I’m currently learning through a curriculum, I can hopefully bring a new/different perspective into a business when I am ready to delve deeper into the work field. Maintaining business process management will improve productivity, so it is not something to ignore at all. 

Source: BPM software and the move toward smarter business practices – Digital Journal

From the blog CS@Worcester – theJCBlog by Jancarlos Ferreira and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.