There are now more Capstone projects with objectives that are entirely software based or incorporate software components. However, software designs have characteristics that can make them different from the hardware-focused projects historically sponsored in BYU Capstone.

Because of the ability to rapidly prototype changes and the fact that your prototype can actually become the product, the nature of software projects is more iterative than most hardware design projects and follows the process outlined in Figure 6-3 of Design Decisions more closely than the traditional waterfall project management procedure associated with the Capstone hardware development process. However, because of the fixed schedule and resources allocated to your project, appropriate goal targets combined with agile management are essential to ensure that your efforts are appropriately mapped to achieve a successful outcome.

You should use software to manage software. Appropriate use of GitLab, GitHub or another repository management system will enable you to keep track of different software components and successfully combine the efforts of your team members.

Throughout the software development process, you will need to show that your product does what it is supposed to do, does not do what it is not supposed to do, and can be updated, refined, and deployed by future engineers. In this way, the principles of desirability and transferability apply to these types of projects. Generally, software projects will not produce the diversity of artifacts of hardware projects, but the artifacts they produce will be updated much more frequently as coding progresses. Do not expect that a one-to-one mapping of artifacts recommended for hardware projects will be used for a software project. Major artifacts that describe the software product deliverables are the following: