The industry project is one of the most educationally distinctive modules on the programme because it cannot be completed alone. Students form cross-specialisation teams, define a brief, manage their own sprints, and deliver working software to a real standard. The skills tested are exactly those that separate a developer who can code from one who can contribute to a team.
Why it matters
The gap between coursework and professional software development is largely a team gap. Individuals who have never managed a codebase with version control, never resolved a merge conflict mid-sprint, and never had to scope down a feature because the deadline moved are not ready for a junior engineering role, regardless of their individual technical ability. This module bridges that gap.
Agile methodologies, sprint planning, backlog management, and retrospectives are now standard practice across the industry. Students who arrive at their first job having already run sprints, used GitHub for collaborative development, and presented a working product to a client are significantly better positioned than those who have not.
Module design
The module follows a sprint-based structure from orientation to delivery. The opening weeks establish the team, map individual specialisations to project roles, define requirements, and set up technical infrastructure. Sprint Zero configures version control, task boards, and communication practices. Development sprints proceed through feature build, integration, and refinement, with a session on ethical, legal, and professional issues in computing embedded in the development cycle rather than treated as an afterthought. The final sprint is dedicated to presentation rehearsal and project handover.
Each team manages its own backlog and velocity. Teaching in this module means scaffolding rather than directing: setting professional standards, facilitating retrospectives, and intervening when teams encounter process failures they cannot resolve independently.
Syllabus
- Orientation, project ideation, and specialism mapping
- Briefs, requirements, and early technical validation
- Project management and Sprint Zero: agile setup
- Development Sprint 1: core foundations
- Development Sprint 2: feature build
- Ethical, legal, and professional issues: BCS standards and GDPR
- Development Sprint 3: integrations and APIs
- Development Sprint 4: refinement and system cohesion
- Development Sprint 5: polish and stability
- Presentation sprint: training and rehearsals
What students leave with
Students can work as a contributing member of a technical team, manage their own work within a sprint cycle, use version control collaboratively, and present a software project to a non-technical audience. They carry direct experience of the decisions and trade-offs that are otherwise only legible from the outside, and arrive at their final year project as significantly more capable colleagues.