History
The Observatory was founded in 2005, however prior to that a number of PhD students designed experiments and collected data on the software engineering process. These were all based on the pioneering taught courses devised at the University of Sheffield
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1985 | The department of computer science at the University of Sheffield starts to focus resources on industrially orientated opportunities. |
| 1985 | The "Software Hut" project was initially introduced after reforms inspired by the then head of department Doug Lewin. In the first few years the projects were sourced in the department and the course having a more theoretical perspective than now, with later reforms seeking external clients. |
| 1988 | Maxi project established for the MSc program by Stan Price. This project was from the start led by a non-academic manager. As with the Software Hut the students work in teams to deliver a solution to an external client. |
| 1998 | The main project parts of the crossover project are introduced into two modules as part of the new Software Engineering degree programme. |
| 1991 | The first year Crossover project was established in its current form by Mike Holcombe. It was formed originally by combining elements from two other modules, though the modern form may not have been settled upon until 1993. This internal project teaches theory of software development alongside a practical project. It follows the form of a handover project. |
| 1994 (est) | Peter Croll established the Software Hut in its current form with external clients, and a focus on learning through practice. Software Hut is run in the first semester of level 2 for 12 weeks. Marks are allocated 60% on the project and 40% on an exam.
The project was envisaged as student numbers began to grow in computer science departments, such that it became difficult to find enough industrial placements or projects for individual students. This led to the idea of a group of students working with a single client and later to several groups competing to produce a solution. At this time it appears that a single client was sought to work with all the teams. It follows principles of having a competitive development environment that were previously discussed in the 1970s but without the handover requirement. |
| 1995 | Crossover project reorganized to fill a full half module. |
| 1996 | Andy Stratton works as a project officer on an FDTL grant to develop the Software Hut, and latter found the 4th year Genesys project. |
| 1996 September | First group of undergraduate students reach the fourth year (the Software Engineering MEng having had its first intake three years previously in 1993), they were supposed to follow a module similar to the maxi project but this never actually occurred. |
| 1997 | Software Hut. The project experiences significant requirements creep, and only 2 of 12 teams deliver working software. It was probably our largest ever failure to deliver. |
| 1997 September | Genesys founded as VICI. Genesys ran during the second year of the MEng with 6 students: Daniel Khan, Grant Bardsley, Daniel East, Paul Todd, Simon Cadd and Adam Howitt. The module was original called "Setting up and running your own IT Company".
Initially there were actually three companies Training, Development, and Consultancy. Where each student at some point played the roll of chairman and finance director. In later years this structure was dropped to form a single company consisting of several development teams. |
| 1998 | Software Hut revised.
Software Hut is run in the second semester of level 2 for 12 weeks. This makes it harder to recruit clients who previously had been found three months before the start of the project, now Christmas gets in the way giving only 5 weeks lead time before the start of the project. In this year there were for the first time several clients working with the teams. Typically three clients would be found in each year, with 3-6 teams working with each client. This became essential as the number of students grew on the course. Following the previous years failures all the teams are expected to deliver a requirements document in week 6. This remained a component of the project until 2007. Students had the option of 100% mark for the project work, or 40% exam 60% project. |
| 1998 | Helen Parker works as project officer until 2000, taking over from Andy Stratton. |
| 1998 September | Genesys named by two MSc students who completed projects over the summer period. One student was Paul Lyons, the other Tariq Hussain. Both produced dissertations entitled "Genesys Solutions: A Quality-Oriented Software Development and Consultancy Company" |
| 1999 | Software Hut revised.
Marks were now allocated 100% for the project for all students. |
| 2001 | Initial work begins to build the proposal for the Observatory. |
| 2001 | Genesys.
In this year there were for the first time non-development teams. These were “Research and Development” and “Systems admin”. Until this year these roles had been performed by members of the development teams in an ad hoc manner. The system admin role remains in Genesys but the R&D role was later dropped. |
| 2002 | Student numbers begin to decline on Computer Science courses nationally. This has an effect on the number of teams (which peaked at 18 in 1998) which begin to decline significantly. |
| 2003 | Genesys awarded IBM Eclipse (software) innovation grant. This IBM sponsored initiative led to the formation of an “Eclipse Team” which developed Eclipse plugins to support the company. |
| 2003 March | Institute of Work Psychology at the University of Sheffield are invited to participate in the research into software engineering. |
| 2004 March | Genesys awarded IBM Eclipse (software) innovation grant. This IBM sponsored initiative led to the formation of an “Eclipse Team” which developed Eclipse plugins to support the company. |
| 2004 August | Francisco Macias completes his PhD with Prof. M. Holcombe. “Empirical Assessment of Extreme Programming” |
| 2004 September | A marketing team is established in Genesys. |
| 2005 | Prof. Stephen Wood joins the Observatory team, working in the Institute of Work Psychology at the University of Sheffield. |
| 2005 March | Genesys awarded second IBM Eclipse (software) innovation grant. The grant was used to employ Bhavnidhi Kalra as a project manager for 6 months. |
| 2005 April | Sharifah Syed-Abdullah completes her PhD with Prof. M Holcombe: “Empirical Study on Extreme Programming”. |
| 2005 September | EPSRC Grant awarded: £500K over three years to carry out research in the Observatory. |
| 2005 September | Genesys.
The research and development team was dropped and an “Enterprise Team” formed to try to build generic applications for resale. The students did not find this motivating and the team only existed in this year. |
| 2006 March | George Michaelides, John Karn and Chris Thomson appointed as RAs. |
| 2006 July | John Karn completes his PhD working with Dr. Eur. Ing. Tony Cowling: “Empirical Software Engineering: Developing Behaviour and Preferences”. |
| 2006 September | Genesys, with no Eclipse (software) grant this year, the “Eclipse” team is dropped. |
| 2006 October | Joint EPSRC-ESRC trial studentship awarded, to fund a new UK PhD student over three years in the Observatory. |
| 2006 November | Dr Phil McMinn appointed as lecturer in Enterprise computing, joins the Observatory staff in teaching Genesys. Dr Steven Murphy appointed as Genesys business manager, to grow Genesys into a larger company. |
| 2007 | In this year the smallest group passed through Software Hut, there were 9 teams, and 40 students overall.
For the first time in 10 years, with the XP process in use the students are not required to submit a requirements document. |
| 2007 February | Chris Thomson completes his PhD with Prof. Mike Holcombe: “Defining and Describing Change Events in Software Development Projects”. |
| 2007 September | Liang Huang completes a Masters Thesis with Prof. Mike Holcombe:"Analysis and quantification of test first programming". |
| 2007 October | epiGenesys is registered as a limited company and spun out of the University. Students projects continue in Genesys which mostly takes projects under outsourcing agreements via epiGenesys. Dr Steve Murphy is transferred to the company and Chris Murray is also employed. Future research may involve tapping into the data created by software development at epiGenesys as the University of Sheffield is the sole shareholder. |
| 2007 October | Andrea Corbett née Smith is appointed as the EPSRC-ESRC PhD student, Mike Holcombe and Stephen Wood are join supervisors. |
| 2008 May | Dr Steve Murphy leaves epiGenesys. |
| 2009 May | Chris Murray is appointed Managing Director of epiGenesys. The company continues to offer bespoke software development and now specialises in the delivery of information systems for the medical and health research sectors, but retains a passion for enterprise education through which it enhances the learning experience of more than 250 students each year. |
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