Development Process Continued: Increase the Probability of Project and Program Success

In the commercial IT industry we continue to talk about the development process but it is essential to understand, unlike in R & D and system engineering development, that there is a key process and activity that has been overlooked or absent in many IT/application development processes. Often we are so short sighted because of the rapid development activities to implement technology projects and programs that the process and activity does not get the attention it requires. What is this up front process and activity? It is “Research” and “Analysis”, before the architecture/high level design is performed. Although “Research” in R and D is much more extensive in scientific and pharmaceutical industries than in the commercial business environment, the process and analysis activity before development/implementation serve the same purpose. Understand the problem, discovery (for scientific and system engineering, it is trials, experiments, extensive studies), feasibility of the project/initiatives, possible or alternative solutions and the approach, and essential system requirements definition and analysis. The up front activity is performed to create a feasible and effective development process; the solution.

Now take that perspective for the IT industry. What should take place up front is research and study, analysis, evaluation, feasibility leading to the solution or possible solutions, the chosen solution’s process and approach, all requirements for the business/organization and the system/product (software, application, etc.) requirements. And yes, many of us have used and know that rapid development techniques, methodologies, and tools (e.g., JAD, facilitated sessions, analysis tools, etc.) can be or are used for this effort. It is a time to determine if development will be full scale development for each technology, module and component integration, buy and assembly or a combination of development, buy and integrate/install. From stable requirements we move into the application/software/network-infrastructure architecture and detail design and the other development processes. Remember that many failed projects did not have adequate requirements which is absolutely necessary to determine what the customer/users want and will be satisfied with for the project.

In conclusion, determine if the initiative is feasible, if it supports enterprise goals and objectives, and that all requirements are identified and defined to increase the probability of project and program success. Remember that the Requirements Definition and Analysis Process is really the “Bridge” to full scale development and the architecture design effort.