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    • Introduction
    • The Stages of a Project
    • Chapter 1. Sponsorship and Leadership
    • Chapter 2. Defining the Objectives and Benefits
    • Chapter 3. Planning the Project
    • Chapter 4. Ensuring the Project is a Manageable Size
    • Chapter 5. Defining the Budget
    • Chapter 6. Managing the Risks
    • Chapter 7. Getting the Right Project Manager
    • Chapter 8. Getting Customer Representation
    • Chapter 9. Defining Roles & Responsibilities
    • Chapter 10. Getting the Right Resources
    • Chapter 11. Monitoring and Reporting Progress
    • Chapter 12. Communicating Progress
    • Chapter 13. Consultation and Leadership
    • Chapter 14. Getting Realistic User Requirements
    • Chapter 15. Defining Your Approach
    • Chapter 16. Conducting Structured Testing
    • Chapter 17. Creating an Implementation Plan
    • Chapter 18. Conducting a Post Implementation Review
    • Chapter 19. Realising the Benefits
    • Chapter 20. Learning the Lessons
    • Chapter 21. Celebrating Success
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Defining Your Approach

Question 15: Have you based your development on an iterative prototyping approach?

Good Practice: Developing a prototype will breathe life into the requirements-gathering process. People can find it challenging to engage in dry documents, where a screen-based prototype can bring the debate to life.

Prototyping involves feedback from customers to developers on a trial based product. Each time a new prototype is released, it is usually an enhancement of a previous one. The evolutionary prototype often becomes the final product. Prototyping was first recognised as a software development approach when developers found that they couldn't figure out all the requirements, until work had started on the project. 1

ContekSoft
A software developer at a computer photographed from behind designing a new program

Basing the development on a series of prototypes will create a perception of early delivery to the users and a feeling of involvement in and commitment to the development process.

It is best to involve many users in prototype reviews as early as possible. This approach ensures that many users have seen the system through demonstrations and training sessions before the go-live date. This will provide high confidence that the system meets user needs and highlights any problem areas needing more attention early on.

Skipping this prototyping step and going straight to build may result in costly rework.

Common Mistakes

  • Basing user requirements on large documents only.
  • Not using an iterative prototyping approach.
  • Not involving enough actual users.

Reference

1 ContekSoft, Prototype Development Approach, Glossary.

Defining Your Approach

Question 15: Have you based your development on an iterative prototyping approach?

16
Conducting Structured Testing

Question 16: Have you conducted structured testing?

17
Creating an Implementation Plan

Question 17: Do you have a comprehensive implementation plan?

18
Conducting a Post Implementation Review

Question 18: Have you conducted a post implementation review?

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