Developing an application requires more than just a solid knowledge of coding skills. To successfully achieve the goal of a client, a consultant must have the ability to distill requirements from many sources, develop a cohesive plan to build a suitable solution to the business problem presented, and upon completion of the implementation, be able to support the change management needs of the organization as it adopts the new solution. We look at all projects from this perspective, from small updates to existing websites to the large, multi-user enterprise class applications. To be successful all areas and aspects of the software development lifecycle must be addressed.
Requirements Analysis
Much of our interaction with stakeholders is done remotely. During these interactions we carefully listen to the problems presented and begin identifying the major requirements. Through additional meetings and conversations, we will define and clarify requirements to describe the problem and desired solution more specifically. Documentation at this stage is dependent on what the client has requested and how complex the application appears to be.
System Design
Because we work in an Agile manner, a lot of the system design is performed in parallel with the initial analysis. As we design a solution, we begin diagraming data flows, use cases, entity relationships, and user interfaces. Our goal with these tasks is to be able to produce artifacts that can be presented to clients to encourage discussion and deliberation. It is much easier, quicker, and less costly to make changes at this stage than it will be later when coding and development has gotten underway.
While we consider all aspects, some are given more weight than others depending on the scale of each project. Not every project requires full requirement documentation, use cases, or data flow diagrams. Some projects can easily be designed on a single scrap of paper concisely so that all stakeholders can appreciate the forthcoming solution.