Experiences with a Real Software Engineering Client

Encounters with a real software engineering client are described, along with the course format and content, project deliverables, and modus operandi. The project is a customary semester-long, team-oriented software development assignment involving the usual stages of the software lifecycle. The services of a real client, in need of software to help her with her day-to-day tracking of business transactions, subsidize our need for an end-user. Her involvement and input gives the class a real-life scenario and also increases the complexity of a medium-scale project by providing details of her software needs. This paper focuses on the lessons learned from using a real-life client. There is no doubt that using a real-life client is not an innovative idea. However, we offer novel ways of transacting and realizing a real-life client´s specifications. We also offer some pedagogical techniques and summarize our experiences, with the intent of helping others who are implementing a similar scheme in their software engineering courses