How Software Development is Like Building A House

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT uN BUILDING A HOUSE Bote Start with A Good Plan STATE THE GOALS DESCRIBE YOUR DREAM HOME As in any endeavor in life, whether building an enterprise software solution or building a house, the first step is always defining the requirements and clearly stating the goals of the project. Sometimes people jump too quickly into the details without first pinpointing the real issues in an organization. Describe your vision of the project by answering the question "What is the real problem we are trying to Goat solve here?" Here are sowe questions to ask yourself to assist in identifying your goali: Where Am I Now? Where Do I Want to Go? What Must I Do to Get There? 2 IDENTIFY ACTORS/ROLES WHO WILL LIVE IN THE HOUSE? Who will need access to what data and how do they need to access it? Each actor plays a different role in the organization and thus has a different view of the data and different levels of access. For example the CEO needs to see different data than the salesperson. IDENTIFY PROCESSES WHAT WILL ACTORS DO IN THE HOUSE? Next identify the business processes and how data flows through the organization. Another term for this is "Use Case". Each actor will have a different set of tasks that they need to perform to do their job. Identify each of these tasks for each actor. DEFINE THE DATA WHAT DO ACTORS NEED TO USE/CONSUME? Define the needs of each actor to fulfill each process. Next define the core database GAS Consume requirements identifying all data to be captured. When planning any software project, the database will be the core of your business information flow and getting it OFFICE right the first time is critical to the success of the project. ..... Needs 5 SCREEN MOCKUPS HOW IS EACH ROOM LAID OUT? Next you will need to translate the BEDROOM needs and tasks of each actor into a DINING ROOM series of screen mockups that allow OFFICE them to perform each task that their job dictates. To properly plan a software project *all* screens in the system must be identified. ENTRANCE FACT :A common reason for software project failure or cost overrun is because not all of the screens were identified and designed in the planning stage. INTEGRATION PLAN HOW DOES THE HOUSE CONNECT TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD? Another part of your plan will be to identify all points of integration. Often new systems do not happen in a vacuum. That is, they will need to retrieve data or pass data to some other software system that already exists. Each of these contact points need to be identified; not only what data is to be transferred but also an explanation of how and when it is to be transferred. TEST PLAN INSPECTING THE HOUSE TO ENSURE QUALITY Lack of test plans is why so many systems go live loaded with bugs. Each programmer needs to do unit testing on their individual part of the application but then it needs to be handed over to the testing team for end to end testing. When testing, it's human nature to overlook details in an application that you wrote yourself because you're too close to the problem. Having an independent tester ensures better quality. GO LIVE PLAN MOVING INTO THE HOUSE Some brand new systems can simply be Plan turned on when ready. However others, especially ones that are tightly integrated with another system, may require a very complex go live procedure to prevent any down time in an existing live system. The entire process needs to be thought through, documented and contingencies identified should any unexpected problem arise during deployment. TIME & COST ESTIMATES HOW MUCH WILL THE HOUSE COST? This is one of the toughest parts of a software planning project because it requires you to look into your crystal ball and accurately predict the future. But it's not impossible. Armed with a good planning methodology you can take a roach to coming up with a 000 ystemati realistic time estimate. 10 SCHEDULE WHEN CAN THE HOUSE BE COMPLETED? Size up your developer resources and create a 1 schedule. Now armed with the total number of man hours for the project you'll be able to divide and conquer. Set priorities in the project then divide the different screens and tasks amongst the Schedule team. Next map that to real calendar dates and don't forget about holidays. Set specific milestone dates during the life of the project so that you can measure your success as you go. Remember, if you can't measure it, you can't manage it! DOWNLOAD OUR "How To Plan A Software Project" FREE WHITEPAPER Brought to you by: Infographic by: Keene Systems SparkEvolution.com 2 603-651-7929 Keene Systems, Inc. 10 Panaway Dr., Campton, NH 03223 2 603-726-5058 8 www.KeeneSystems.com M [email protected]