Assumptions are Lethal. This is a thing we probably can be sure of. Maybe lethal is an overstatement, but you guys probably know what I’m talking about. Actors in our projects that don’t seem to listen, because they already ‘know’ how the solution must look like and how the functionality works.
Creating an extensive Functional Design even doesn’t really makes sure this is avoided, because people still need to read it in order to understand what the functionality we need in our system. After implementation we can still hear those scary words: ‘Oh, I thought that…’
Thoughts are not what counts in Software Development, value is. Therefore design and analysis are useless, when you don’t properly share with your peers. Spend most of your time talking, explaining or simply measuring. We simply cannot rely on the Divine to explain the functionality to the actors in our project.
Therefor we need to make sure the functionality is understood. One of the easiest ways is to create a situation where actors get involved in designing and deploying functionality, in any kind of project. If you ever hear the words ‘I know how it works’ again, be extremely aware and drag this person into your project to make sure he (or she) really knows how.
For this simple assumption I leave you with only one tip: Analysis and Design isn’t a one man show, it’s a group process…
