BME VIK - Multikulturális IT 1. - A termékmenedzser szempontjából

A tantárgy neve magyarul / Name of the subject in Hungarian: Multikulturális IT 1. - A termékmenedzser szempontjából

3. Course coordinator and department Dr. Wiener Gábor,

Web page of the course web.inc.bme.hu/csonka

4. Instructors

Name	Position	Department
Tamás HAJAS	Lecturer	Department of Computer Science and Information Theory
Gábor WIENER	Assoc. professor	Department of Computer Science and Information Theory

5. Required knowledge No programming experience is required to complete the first part. Students should have a keen interest in creating IT solutions and have good and open communication skills to work with clients and peers. A keen interest in observing how people do things and an ability to reach satisfying compromises is important.

7. Objectives, learning outcomes and obtained knowledge This course is recommended to students interested in the management or creation of commercial desktop or networked software applications intended for a global user base. Students will learn to identify features and capabilities key to success in their chosen application field and they will learn a methodology to effectively manage the product through its life cycle.

8. Synopsis In the era of Internet marketing all IT products are globally accessible, but becoming a global standard is hardly an option for the majority of the products and companies. By observing cultural diversity and successfully adopting to local end-user needs increases the chances of an emerging IT player to become successful on the global marketplace. Based on the experience gained in the development of Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD the course will demonstrate how deeply a successful product must be diversified to meet local needs.

Students will learn how to discover the true end-user requirements related to cultural differences, the right approach and timing to address the global IT market, how to manage the integration of diversity into an IT product, what tools and services are available to assist software engineers and what strategy should they follow. We will discuss the art and craft of balancing technical, marketing, personnel and budget constraints while delivering a great product for an international audience. Our focus will be on product marketing and in-house communication working with upper management, development and quality assurance.

This course is the first of two parts, first part focusing on the perspective of the product manager while the second part’s focus is on the engineering perspective. While the two parts are independent of each other and can be attended separately, they both study the same problem from two different angles with little to no overlap. Often the key in product success is to master both angles of product development, therefore attending both parts is recommended.

Session Outline (by week):

Course introduction

Lecture: Two ways of IT globalization – Setting Global Standards vs. Embracing Cultural Diversity

Lecture: Elements of the task of internationalization

Student presentation: National standards

Lecture: Standard - to unify and to differentiate

Forming of task groups to analyze i18n requirements of a chosen software solution

Lab work: identifying requirements due to different national standards of the problem domain

Student presentation: the art of writing – text input in software

Lecture: the GUI and the language

Group 1 presentation

Student presentation: *(required field) – validating user input

Lecture: Localization – how, who and for how much

Group 2 presentation

Lecture: Local content – static, scripted, add-on

Guest lecturer: websites, localization

Group 3 presentation

Lab work: QA of localized versions

Lecture: managing globalization efforts

Discussion: Core feature / Business process modification

Consolidating product manager and developer preferences

Closing test

9. Method of instruction

 Lectures will be based on concrete examples and personal experience.
 A guest lecturer will be providing detailed account of their firm’s experiences and failures in the topic.
 There will be a series of individual student presentations about selected topics related to the problems of internationalization. Volunteering students will prepare presentations based on their own research in the recommended reading and on the Internet.
 A team work will be prepared in small groups related to the analyses of a chosen IT solution regarding internationalization and presented by each group.
 There will be two hands-on lab sessions on feature design and on quality assurance.
 Students will write a closing test to demonstrate their ability and acquired skills in successfully managing an IT product development effort.

10. Assessment The grades will be determined based on the individual student presentations (70%) and a closing test (30%)

13. References, textbooks and resources Nuray Aykin: Usability and Internationalization of Information Technology, CRC Press (2005, reprinted in 2008) ISBN 0-8058-4479-1

Other recommended reading:

Bert Esselink: A Practical Guide to Localization, John Benjamins Publishing Co; revised ed. (September 2000) ISBN-13: 978-1588110060

John Yunker: Beyond Borders: Web Globalization Strategies, New Riders Press, 2002. ISBN-13: 978-0735712089

14. Required learning hours and assignment

Number of contact hours	28
Preparation to the classes	20
Preparation to the tests	12
Homework	-
Assigned reading	-
Preparation to the exam	-
Total	60

15. Syllabus prepared by

Name	Position	Department
Tamás HAJAS	Lecturer	Department of Computer Science and Information Theory