The document outlines a software engineering plan and methodology for the 'Meerkat' project, aimed at providing a low-cost hiring tool while creating learning and economic opportunities. The roadmap includes an eight-month timeline for development, focusing on risk management, user participation, and iterative improvement to ensure product usability and market fit. Financial projections suggest profitability by the second year, with a detailed analysis of potential risks and recommended practices for successful implementation.

1. Software Engineering Plan &
Methodology Recommendation
Team !404
Zhongwu Shi, Lan Liu,
Mia Zheng, Yi Chi Chan,
Dhatri Misra
“Meerkat”

2. A Peek into Meerkat
Scalable human resource
less cost, short period
Startups
NDSS
Learners
Startups
Learning opportunity &
Economic opportunity
Learners
Capture new market & Revenue
Social Good
NDSS
Meerkat
SOLUTION
A HCaaS tool to lower hiring
cost while offering learning
and economic opportunities
for target users.
UNCERTAINTY
Market position
Unknown biz model
Less cloud exp.
PROBLEMS

3. M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8
8-month from 0 to 1 - the Roadmap
Kickoff Basic Features
Beta
Release 1
Early User Participation
Usability Payment & Analytics,
Performance
Mobile - Android + iOS
MVP
Release 2
Release 3 Release 4
No domain exp. & unsatisfactory product
Team Issue
Competition & Tech debt
Scope Creep

4. Deeper into Roadmap
Scope:
Prioritization
Effort:
Story points
Staff:
Roles
Schedule:
Concurrent
Cost
Web
ImproveMVP
Develop
Maintenance
Mobile
Develop
R3 R4MVP

5. 75% Confidence in Roadmap Estimates
● Estimation for MVP release only.
● Senior developers spend 30% less time on every story point.
● 1 story point equals 1 working hour for junior developers.

6. Soon to be Profitable
Revenue Profit
Year 1 $150k -$125k
Year 2 $900k -$ 36k
Year 3 $1500k $300k
Year 4 $2250k $700k

7. Top 5 Risks, Identified and Managed!
Lack of
experience
Changing
Priorities
Unsatisfied
user needs Competition
Third Party
Integration
Issues
Impact
Probability
Low High

8. “Details create the
big picture”
- Sanford I. Weill

9. Beta Release Plan - Early User Participation
Why?
What?
Reduced the main risks: Unsatisfied user needs
Iteration 2: Third Party Integration Issues
Iteration 0&1: Lack of experience
Iteration 0
Week 0 Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8
Iteration 1 Iteration 2 Iteration 3 Iteration 4
Preparation
Set up the environment,
Architecture, API, Storage
Account System Learners System
Dashboard System
Iteration 3&4: Changing Priorities
Cost: 387,449
Course Designers System

10. First Iteration Plan - Do the Basics
Practices:
Service-oriented Architecture
Reuse
Continuous Integration
Coding Standard
Emergent Design
UI Modeling
Test Reporting
User acceptance
Why?
Goal: Finish the environment, account system, dashboard
Know the team velocity
Keep tracking
Kanban Board / Trello / Standup Meeting

11. An Emergent Software Methodology: Timon
Scrum Sprint
Kanban Board
Service-oriented
Architecture
Emergent Design
Continuous
Integration
User Acceptance
Risk Identification &
Analysis
Stakeholder
Engagement
Contextual
Inquiry
Criteria: Quality (40%)
Time (30%)
Team (20%)
Cost (10%)
I Can Do
Better!

12. Let’s Begin Our Journey
Summary
● Software revolution for social goods
● Addressing the unpredictable nature of software projects
● Full scope and functionalities with high quality in nearly 9 months
Next steps
Bright future: profitable in second year, even better in third year because
of only maintenance, 4th year profit projection: $700K profits out of
$2.25M revenue
Action: need $140K to cover the first year implementation cost

13. Backup Slides

14. Methodology-Timon
Criteria: Quality (40%), Time (30%), Team (20%), Cost (10%)
Recommended
Practices
Requirement Planning Architecture Design
Practice 1 User Story Definition
Iteration
Planning
Service-oriented
Architecture
Emergent Design
Practice 2
Contextural
Inquiry
Workflow
Visualization Using
Kanban Board
Reuse UI Modeling
Recommend
Practices
Implementation Testing Risk Monitoring
Practice 1
Continuous
Integration
Test Reporting
Risk Identification
and Analysis
Stakeholder
Engagement
Practice 2 Coding Standard User acceptance
Risk Tracking with
Burndown Charts
Schedule Monitoring

15. Criteria
Criterion Sub Criteria
Quality
(40%)
User
Experience
Scalability Security Code
Quality
Technical
Risk
Architecture
Flexibility
Time (30%) Quick
Release
Early
Customer
Participation
Managing
changing
Requirement
Team
(20%)
Size Colocation Role
Delegation
Transpare
ncy
Productivity
Cost (10%) Continuous
Integration
Eliminate
Waste
Training Cost
Link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1isRkcysGw2UIxQofEGfUqsR5cSCdUupOV1TK9FJ48dk/edit#gid=0

16. Context analysis
● Here are the contexts we assumed for Meerkat project
● Team size: Small (1 ~ 50)
● Application Criticality: Low to Medium except for Payment system (low to medium, reliability,
accuracy, security, availability)
● Business model: Make money from startup projects & low-cost in-house contractor (money,
commission)
● Stable architecture: Service-oriented Architecture (medium to high, bug numbers,
independency, coupling)
● Team Distribution: 2 different locations (0% ~ 100%)
● Governance: Self-governed, agile philosophy oriented (Self-governed ~ full-governed)
● Rate of Change: (low to medium, requirement changes, )
● Age of system: New system (0 ~ 3 years)

17. Revenue & Profit Estimates

18. Calculating Income and Expenses
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4
$300 * 20
PaidByLearning
learners
$300 * 34
PaidByLearning
learners
$300 * 30
PaidByLearning
learners
$300 * 39
PaidByLearning
learners
$750 * 6 * 20
Contractors
$750 * ((3*20)+(9*54))
Contractors
$750 * ((3*54)+(9*81))
Contractors
$750 *
((3*84)+(9*123))
Contractors
$15000 * 10 Projects $15000 * 60 Projects $15000 * 100 Projects $15000 * 150 Projects

19. Operational Costs

20. Staffing Requirement & Cost (⅓)

21. Staffing Requirement & Cost (2/3)

22. Staffing Requirement & Cost (3/3)

23. Efforts
https://docs.google.com/s
preadsheets/d/11fCBEELqo
JerXQ2ekZdrO2siZpxUbq21
T15hH9k4W-s/edit#gid=8
54483830

24. Schedule

25. Top 5 Risks, Managed!
1. Lack of Experience - Through training and quick release, the team
members can gain understanding quickly and deeply
2. Competition - Watch and monitor competitors, focusing on users and
keep fast iteration
3. Unsatisfied user needs - Early user participation can help iterate product
and improve user experience; Timon can also help fast iteration
4. Third Party Integration Issue - Design architecture and powerful
engines with the third party websites early
5. Changing Priorities - Early user participation for managing requirement;
using sprint to quickly deal with changing priorities

26. Risk - before

27. Risk - after
Link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11fCBEELqoJerXQ2ekZdrO2siZpxUbq21T15hH9k4W-s/edit#gid=1091679640

28. Risk - releases

29. RoadMap
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11fCBEELqoJerXQ2ekZdrO2siZpxUbq21T15hH9k4W-s/edit#gid=2115810721