Now while many might rightfully argue that each of these steps is a process of its own, I contend that these five fundamental high-level steps are key to all successful technology projects. I have personally utilized this simple plan equally well for web site design projects, database design projects, as well as any other technology project that I have been faced with.
Envisioning is a business-centric, problem discovery, situation-assessment and opportunity planning process. It is designed to improve the odds for an effective solution by establishing clear business-focused success criteria.
During discovery, business stakeholders are asked to answer the who, what, when, and how much questions.
- Who will represent the interests of each involved business department?
- What are the business goals, expectations, and success criteria?
- When is completion required?
- How much is budgeted?
Once the project is properly defined, the design begins. This is the prototype phase of the project. Prototype concepts are basic design ideas; the first look at the project's possibilities. Discovery and design form an iterative loop, as concepts are vetted, including impact to timelines and costs.
After the design is signed off and finalized, development begins. Depending on the project's specific requirements this phase may include:
- application coding (programming)
- environment testing
- stress testing
- user acceptance testing
- operations, backup and recovery procedures creation
- documentation
Once the development efforts are completed, the new technology solution is ready for deployment. The launch however is about more than just deploying the application. It involves raising awareness, ensuring operational readiness, and tracking acceptance.
When applied properly, the steps of the design process can save time and money (as well as headaches and re-work). And by establishing clear success criteria coupled with open communication and collaboration my stakeholders are practically guaranteed to deploy a winning solution and have a great experience in the process.
Over the course of my career, this simple project outline has proven itself equally applicable to web site design, database development, business system construction or any [insert technology project type here] project I have encountered.
In the coming posts, I will explore in more depth each of the phases.
