It is vital that a software engineer communicate well, both orally and in reading and writing. Successful attainment of software requirements and deadlines depends on developing clear understanding between the software engineer and customers, supervisors, coworkers, and suppliers. Optimal problem solving is made possible through the ability to investigate, comprehend, and summarize information. Customer product acceptance and safe product usage depend on the provision of relevant training and documentation. It follows that the software engineer’s own career success is affected by the ability to consistently provide oral and written communication effectively and on time.
Reading, Understanding, and Summarizing
Software engineers are able to read and understand technical material. Technical material includes reference books, manuals, research papers, and program source code.
Reading is not only a primary way of improving skills, but also a way of gathering information necessary for the completion of engineering goals. A software engineer sifts through accumulated information, filtering out the pieces that will be most helpful. Customers may request that a software engineer summarize the results of such information gathering for them, simplifying or explaining it so that they may make the final choice between competing solutions.
Reading and comprehending source code is also a component of information gathering and problem solving. When modifying, extending, or rewriting software, it is critical to understand both its implementation directly derived from the presented code and its design, which must often be inferred.
Writing
Software engineers are able to produce written products as required by customer requests or generally accepted practice. These written products may include source code, software project plans, software requirement documents, risk analyses, software design documents, software test plans, user manuals, technical reports and evaluations, justifications, diagrams and charts, and so forth.
Writing clearly and concisely is very important because often it is the primary method of communication among relevant parties. In all cases, written software engineering products must be written so that they are accessible, understandable and relevant for their intended audience(s).
Team and Group Communication
Effective communication among team and group members is essential to a collaborative software engineering effort. Stakeholders must be consulted, decisions must be made, and plans must be generated. The greater the number of team and group members, the greater the need to communicate.
The number of communication paths, however, grows quadratically with the addition of each team member. Further, team members are unlikely to communicate with anyone perceived to be removed from them by more than two degrees (levels). This problem can be more serious when software engineering endeavors or organizations are spread across national and continental borders.
Some communication can be accomplished in writing. Software documentation is a common substitute for direct interaction. Email is another but, although it is useful, it is not always enough; also, if one sends too many messages, it becomes difficult to identify the important information. Increasingly, organizations are using enterprise collaboration tools to share information. In addition, the use of electronic information stores, accessible to all team members, for organizational policies, standards, common engineering procedures, and project-specific information, can be most beneficial.
Some software engineering teams focus on face-to-face interaction and promote such interaction by office space arrangement. Although private offices improve individual productivity, colocating team members in physical or virtual forms and providing communal work areas is important to collaborative efforts.
Presentation Skills
Software engineers rely on their presentation skills during software life cycle processes. For example, during the software requirements phase, software engineers may walk customers and teammates through software requirements and conduct formal requirements reviews (see Requirement Reviews in the Software Requirements KA). During and after software design, software construction, and software maintenance, software engineers lead reviews, product walkthroughs (see Review and Audits in the Software Quality KA), and training. All of these require the ability to present technical information to groups and solicit ideas or feedback.
The software engineer’s ability to convey concepts effectively in a presentation therefore influences product acceptance, management, and customer support; it also influences the ability of stakeholders to comprehend and assist in the product effort. This knowledge needs to be archived in the form of slides, knowledge writeup, technical whitepapers, and any other material utilized for knowledge creation.
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Published on : 30-May-2018
Ref no : DTC-WPUB-000083
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