Clemson University

COURSE TITLE-CPSC 3300 Colwell Quiz

Chapter 4

1)What is bad about a too-early start to the realization?

2. What is the "essence of engineering"?

3. Why was the 1-percent rule important?

4. What was the purpose of starting the MAS documents early in the refinement

phase?

5 Why is "pipelining" the architects not a good idea?

6 What is Colwell's version of "pinball"? -- If you do not                                   , you do not get to

keep playing.

7Why do performance monitoring and testability need a special czar?

8.What is gratuitous innovation, and why is it considered harmful?  

How much did gratuitous innovation influence Josh Rosen in his work on the ALU board for the DG Eagle?

9.Why would upper management not be supportive of adding new tests to the validation plans as validators learned more about the design?

10.How did Colwell's HOTM metric help "manage his manager"?

11.What is a "shoot the engineers" point in a project?

12.What did Colwell do when Bentley reminded him that validators "don't put the

bugs in"?

13.What are the reasons Colwell gives for big companies fielding multiple design

teams?

14. Compare Colwell's thoughts regarding a request for a new simulator for Willamette to West's thoughts about a simulator for Eagle.

15.Why would Colwell sometimes "sit on" company standardization efforts?

16.What motivates a team to go "above and beyond"?

17. Compare Colwell's approach to the Tom West quote: "No one ever pats

anyone on the back around here. That's how it works."

18.Why did Colwell at one point decline extra headcount?

19.Compare Colwell's decision to decline extra headcount with "Brooks' Law" in

Fred Brooks, The Mythical Man Month:

20. Why did Colwell at one point request extra headcount? What was the

difference in the respective tasks? How much communication was required among the respective teams for the tasks?

21. Why did the "estimate of work accomplished" and "estimate of effort remaining" curves never converge?

22.Why should a "crunch phase" be limited to six months?

23. How long was the Eagle project's crunch phase?

24.Colwell did not like being pressured by his design manager on the Willamette project . Yet he pushed people underneath him at times . Is Colwell being hypocritical, or is there value in his opinion that the architects should should have "some time to think"?