[Sigia-l] Axure

[Andrew Boyd]

On 11/2/07, Jamie Foggon <jarmes at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm interested to know how you handle changing scope throughout the
> course of a project. I find it quite a hassle even keeping wireframes
> up to date throughout a project, as requirements change and as a
> result so do business rules - dependent on whats in scope / out of
> scope. In our projects the IA document is used by testers to validate
> functionality so it *has* to be correct.
>
> The ability to demonstrate functionality quickly is great, but do you
> have a separate detailed specification once the concept is approved?
> or does the prototype evolve and have to keep pace with the final
> product?

Jamie,

if conceptual design is done properly (i.e right at the start of the
project and continuing through) then it helps to eliminate a lot of
scoperush (but not all the creep, it has to be said). It helps to
decide what is in/out of scope.

A document prepared by IAs that is used by testers to validate
functionality would not be conceptual design in my world, though I
grant that everyone works differently - it would be a detailed design
specification (call it what you will) - the detailed design
should/would derive from the conceptual design process. As the project
continues, so does the thrashing. The detailed design could include a
prototype that is micro-adjusted for every change (and this is very
handy for communicating "this is where our thinking is this week" to
stakeholders) but this is exhausting for the prototype monkeys.

As an aside, I've seen a confusion between conceptual design
prototyping and detailed design specification many times - as Matt
says, conceptual design is rapid and messy (as it should be). The
detailed spec is just that - detailed, and details are important if
someone is being paid to develop and validate against them.

I'm given to wonder how many projects have had significant cost
over-runs because of scoperush - and whether conceptual design could
have helped to manage the chaos.

Cheers, Andrew

-- 
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Andrew Boyd
http://onblogging.com.au