UML

[Kavita Ghia]

Hello to all the knowlwdgeable people out there.My question to all u people is "Does UML guarantee project success.What are the factors involved in making your project a success??"

Thanks
Kavita

[Howard Kushner]

Hello Kavita,
If only it were that simple! There are no guarantees regarding anything in this world (with the notable exception of death). Doom and gloom aside, we can minimize some of the risks inherent in software development by modeling. The UML then is simply a notation we can use for modeling. It can enhance communication and that's about it, my friend. It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and UML is simply pictures that conform to certain commonly accepted guidelines.
Regards,

[Fintan Conway]

Originally posted by Kavita Ghia:
"Does UML guarantee project success.What are the factors involved in making your project a success??"

Hi Kavita,
No UML does not guarantee project success. UML is only a notation. UML only tells you how you can draw pictures to represent a design that you have already come up with. The processes involved in how you develop your design, and how you use UML notation within this process will determine how good your design is.
Good design does not mean that the project will be successful, as there are many other factors that will have a bigger impact on project success. The processes you use for gathering requirements / testing / deployment, how involved your user is in the development process, motivation of your project manager, team dynamics, support from management, skills (or lack of) of your team members.
UML is just a tool that you use in one part of your project. If you use the tool wisely, you will successfully deliver the part of the project where the tool was used. If you use the tool 'incorrectly', you will get non-optimal delivery of that part of the project. UML will not make a project successful. Using UML properly will help certain portions of a project to work well.
HTH,
Fintan

[Kavita Ghia]

Hello...
Thanks for the replies. I thought the same. This question was asked me in the interview and therefore i was wondering whether there were any different views.

Kavita

[Ilja Preuss]

Well, the idea of "guaranteed success" is already flawed in itself. Almost invariably a low-risk project is also a low-profit project. The most profitable organizations don't hesitate to take high-risk projects, have effective risk management strategies implemented and know when to cancel a project.
See http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?IsEarlierCancellationFailure

[Anil Vupputuri]

In other words, its just a way of designing blue prints of a project base on requirements. This so called UML diagram is a communication medium across all levels of project team (starting from Architect to Programmers).

[Stan James]

A huge value of UML is the "U" for Unified. Acceptance of UML has reduced the number of modeling notations, increasing the chances that if you draw a diagram I will understand it. (Note that the number of notations is not 1 and the chances are not 100% tho.) To whatever degree you value modeling, having a common notation is a pretty good thing.
On the downside, UML has gotten so big and complex that few people understand all of it, again decreasing the chances that I can read your diagrams. I'd hate to wind up back where we were when every methodology guru and book had its own notation!

[Howard Kushner]

Thanks Stan,
Good point, so when I use any notation when communicating with users (or even management) I just call them pictures, cause most people are scared to death of UML. I just call it lines and boxes, and no one catches on until it's too late and meaningful communication has already taken place.