Category:SP Professional Communication

SP/Professional Communication [1 Core-Tier1 hour]

Professional communication conveys technical information to various audiences who may have very different goals and needs for that information. Effective professional communication of technical information is rarely an inherited gift, but rather needs to be taught in context throughout the undergraduate curriculum. See cross-referencing with Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Software Engineering (SE) Knowledge Areas.

Topics:

[Core-Tier1]

• Reading, understanding and summarizing technical material, including source code and documentation
• Writing effective technical documentation and materials
• Dynamics of oral, written, and electronic team and group communication (cross-reference HCI/Collaboration and Communication/group communication; SE/Project Management/team participation)
• Communicating professionally with stakeholders
• Utilizing collaboration tools (cross-reference HCI/Collaboration and Communication/online communities;

IS/Agents/collaborative agents)

[Elective]

• Dealing with cross-cultural environments (cross-reference HCI/User-Centered Design and Testing/crosscultural

evaluation)

• Tradeoffs of competing risks in software projects, such as technology, structure/process, quality, people,

market and financial (cross-reference SE/Software Project Management/Risk)

Learning Outcomes:

[Core-Tier1]

1. Write clear, concise, and accurate technical documents following well-defined standards for format and for including appropriate tables, figures, and references. [Usage]

2. Evaluate written technical documentation to detect problems of various kinds. [Assessment]

3. Develop and deliver a good quality formal presentation. [Assessment]

4. Plan interactions (e.g. virtual, face-to-face, shared documents) with others in which they are able to get their point across, and are also able to listen carefully and appreciate the points of others, even when they disagree, and are able to convey to others what they have heard. [Usage]

5. Describe the strengths and weaknesses of various forms of communication (e.g. virtual, face-to-face, shared documents). [Familiarity]

6. Examine appropriate measures used to communicate with stakeholders involved in a project. [Usage]

7. Compare and contrast various collaboration tools. [Assessment]

[Elective]

8. Discuss ways to influence performance and results in cross-cultural teams. [Familiarity]

9. Examine the tradeoffs and common sources of risk in software projects regarding technology, structure/process, quality, people, market and financial. [Usage]

10. Evaluate personal strengths and weaknesses to work remotely as part of a multinational team. [Assessment]