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Video Tutorial Series: Governed Software Development

CIDM 6330/6395 — Software Engineering Governance


Series Overview

This six-part video series teaches you how to govern your software projects using a structured, template-driven approach. You will learn to write Product Requirements Documents, Architecture Decision Records, and Task Briefs that keep you in the architect's seat — even when AI writes the code.

Running example: A reading list tracker CLI built from scratch through the full governance cycle.


Parts

Part Title Duration What You'll Learn
1 Why Governed Development? ~10 min The Degradation Pattern, Zero Doctrine, and why governance matters
2 Product Requirements Documents ~12 min How to define what you're building and why, using the PRD template
3 Architecture Decision Records ~12 min How to record design decisions before implementation
4 Task Decomposition ~12 min Breaking features into small, testable tasks with the task template
5 Implementation and Verification ~12 min Writing code, testing, and verifying acceptance criteria
6 Putting It Together ~10 min The full cycle in review, file structure, and gzkit CLI preview

Total series: ~68 minutes


How to Use This Series

  1. Watch each part in order — concepts build on each other
  2. Pause and do the activities — each part ends with a hands-on prompt
  3. Use the templates — copy from docs/examples/templates/ into your project
  4. Reference the guides — the written guides go deeper than the videos

Prerequisites

  • Familiarity with Python (basic syntax, functions, classes)
  • A text editor (VS Code recommended)
  • Git installed and configured
  • Python 3.13+ with uv (for Part 5+)

Companion Materials

Resource Purpose
PRD Template Starting template for Part 2
ADR Template Starting template for Part 3
REQ Template Starting template for Part 4 (requirement briefs)
Task Template Starting template for Part 4 (leaf work items)
PRD Guide Deep-dive reference for PRDs
ADR Guide Deep-dive reference for ADRs
Task Guide Deep-dive reference for task decomposition
Glossary Governance terminology reference
First Project Tutorial Written walkthrough of the same example

Slides

PowerPoint slides for each part are available alongside the scripts:

  • part1-slides.pptx through part6-slides.pptx — Individual decks
  • complete-series-slides.pptx — All six parts in one deck with divider slides

The individual decks are designed for recording — use them as visual aids while speaking from the structured talking points in each script. The combined deck is useful for a single continuous presentation.