LTYM - The Knowledge is in the Doing

Letters to a Young Manager

The Knowledge is in the Doing, #64
LTYM > Project Management

Dear Sophie,

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You've had some good experience with projects. Did you ever know all you needed for the project before the design began?

If we are honest with ourselves, 50% of what we need to know is in the doing. I remember a project at beta test, when we demo'd it for the executive who requested it. He looked at it with a frown and said, "no that's not quite right," you need an option here and a change there. We had to postpone the beta test and reprogram a bit.

Most users cannot tell you exactly what they want; you have to show them. This is why prototypes are so important, with a healthy dose of design humility. In other words, expect to get it wrong a few times before you get it right.

***

Sincerely,
Ed

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Takeaways:

50% of what you need to know is in the doing

Discussion Questions:

1) Why can some people visualize a solution and some can't? Is that a reason why some are good designers and for others it's a mystery?
2) What are some ways to model a problem a prototype a solution?
3) Does the innovation mantra of fail fast, fail cheap, fail often apply here?
4) when are prototypes not feasible?

For Further Reading:

Kent Beck, Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change, Addison-Wesley, 2000, especially chapter 3, "Economics of Software Development", where Beck argues for the value in increasing the options for business decisions; and by implication that the delay in specs is cheap