ComputerHunter.org |
|
|
|||
|
 |
Intranet Project ? RAD or Waterfall?
Building Bridges I have often used the analogy of building a bridge to explain to business colleagues the difference between Rapid Application Development (RAD) and Waterfall. Let's say that we are in the middle ages and the Mayor of Kingston-upon-Thames is evaluating whether or not to build a bridge over the river to the north side, to replace the current ferry. The whole area has been growing rapidly and a bridge at Kingston should give his town a lead against competing local towns like Ham and Richmond (who also have their own ferries). However, building a bridge presents problems. Firstly, the bedrock north and south of the river are very different. Secondly, the river is still tidal at this point and its path continues to vary across the floodplain. Finally ? and perhaps most importantly ? there is no guarantee that the projected growth in cross-river traffic will indeed materialise ? or that people will wish to cross at this precise point, rather than further up, or down, river. A new bridge could prove an expensive white elephant and divert much-needed town resources away from other projects. The increased local taxes required could also scare the very businesses he is hoping to attract away to other local towns. Option 1 - Waterfall Waterfall, as a methodology, is all about building reliable systems. At each stage of the lifecycle, the results are correct. The Mayor's engineer believes that - when building a bridge - the result needs to be safe, sound and capable of lasting for decades. He recommends a design phase, which includes thoroughly testing the bedrock by driving piles and developing ways to limit the future variance of the river's course. During the build phase, the bridge would be tested to ensure it can take the loads that will be placed upon it and to deal with high winds or flood conditions. The engineer confirms that each stage would only start once the previous stage had been proved correct beyond reasonable doubt. The stone bridge will take five whole years to build (with a high upfront cost commitment). If the project were ever stopped, the value tied up in phases to date would be lost. The engineer reminds the Mayor that a collapsed bridge would not help his place in history! Option 2 - RAD RAD, as a methodology is all about building relevant systems. The argument runs that it is better to be there quickly with 80% of the functionality in 20% of the time, so as to take full advantage of the business opportunity. The Mayor's political advisors recommend the RAD option; to lay a pontoon bridge first alongside the existing ferry. This can be achieved in just three months, using a series of boats with a makeshift road surface and swing bridge lock for river vessels to navigate. The pontoon bridge allows the business model to be tested very quickly; If the expected benefits materialise, then further iterations of the bridge can be constructed later on. Sounds good, but of course (overall) the costs will be higher than waterfall if a full, stone bridge is ultimately required. In the meantime, if the river changes course, or floods impact the area, then the pontoon bridge will be washed away. His chief advisor reminds him that a bridge five years from now would not help his re-election prospects two years hence! The Mayor's selected option Hmm. Interesting, isn't it. Not a clear-cut decision. There are good arguments for either approach. The Mayor's decision will ultimately depend on (a) how sure he is of his own vision, (b) his financial and time constraints and (c) how changeable these factors are likely to be over time. In short, he has a trade-off decision of relevance vs. reliability. Turning the analogy onto Intranet Projects In the Development Methodology chapter of my (free to access) Intranet Portal Guide, I explore these concepts in a bit more depth. However ? put simply ? the answer for you will depend largely on how sure you are of your vision, the support of stakeholders, the availability of resources and the degree of change in your organisation and it's requirements. If you are operating in a stable business environment and are well funded and supported, then waterfall offers real benefits. You could establish an Intranet Portal that is well founded, scalable and secure. If not, then RAD could offer you the means to make some progress now at low cost and use the results of your early work to build a stronger case for future investment. It also allows you to vary the approach ? or begin again ? should circumstances or requirements change. Most Intranet evangelists will find themselves perhaps in a mixed situation, where there is support and funding but there is also the risk of rapid changes to the underlying business environment and requirements. Here, I would recommend a mixed approach: Use a waterfall project to establish the underlying portal infrastructure (as this platform will be the bedrock on which you will build and needs to stand the test of time). Then use a RAD method to build the content and applications (developing solutions that are timely and relevant to businesses operating in a fast-moving and competitive environment). About the author: David Viney (david@viney.com) is the author of the Intranet Portal Guide; 31 pages of advice, tools and downloads covering the period before, during and after an Intranet Portal implementation. Read the guide at http://www.viney.com/DFV/intranet_portal_guide or the Intranet Watch Blog at http://www.viney.com/intranet_watch.
Google News - Top Stories
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Helping Your Visitors: a State of Mind What does "helping your visitors" mean exactly? Web advertising e-Marketing Places! Overview: The Internet and Customer Care: Aid or Anarchy? It was reported in 'Marketing' magazine this month, that Britain is becoming a "disaffected nation", with each adult apparently making an average of 12 complaints to service providers each year, based on a "Service in Britain" survey by ASR (Andrew Smith Research). In response to the rise of the 'assertive consumer', brands are endeavouring to make sure 'good customer service' is a recognisable characteristic in the form of testimonials, efficient call centre responses and empowering staff throughout the company to resolve problems. Most complaints were about power, utility or postal services at 42%, followed by supermarkets, telephone providers, TV or ISP providers and banks. Insurance companies were also in the top 10 with 21% of the articulate disaffected nation. Ecommerce - Boost Your Business ROI Did you know that over 90% of all online orders are processed by credit cards and that web sites that offer customers the ability to pay with credit cards can achieve up to 300% more sales than those that do not? ECommerce Scenario in Pakistan Pakistan with highest growth rates in 1960s and bad politics in 1980s and 90s but, the stage is totally changed in 2000s as the economy is managed by those who once run the most successful Global Financial Houses. Today Pakistan has achieved 8.3% growth rates with highest percentage earning share zone in the whole world. Welcome to Pakistan 2005 The Top 10 E-Commerce Ways to Follow up with Clients - Part 2 Did you know that 80% of all sales are made after the 5th contact? Saving Money On Your E-commerce Site After building and transferring many e-commerce sites it still amazes me that owners of e-commerce businesses are still wasting money in three basic ways. For fear of stating the obvious, saving money is the same as making money $100 saved is $100 added to your profit margin. Here are three basic ways to save money on your e-commerce site and increase your profits. While they may be simple we know they are overlooked time and time again resulting in thousands of dollars in lost revenue. Products for a Successful Web Business There are F words in business. We have seen many small businesses on the internet flourish and fulfil their dream, but sadly we have seen some flounder and fail because they had the wrong product. 7 Suggestions for an i-Mom Friendly Web Site (e-commerce news and statistics) The Internet began as a male dominated medium, but those days are long gone and merchants are advised to make sure their websites are female friendly to faciliate the rising surge of busy i-Moms shopping online for their family and friends. E-commerce: Is It Right for You? The birth of the Internet and the mass availability of personal Computers in the late 80's changed peoples life forever, Everyone now has had the potential to be their own boss whether you are mother at home looking after your children or a manual laborer there are opportunities in abundance . Just a search on Google for business opportunities will bring up more offers than your parents would have had in their whole life. So it must be easy to make a living from the internet right? No it's not, you need a firm business plan and you need to work hard at it. Eleven Things You Must Know About A Drop Shipping Directory And Its Company 1. Balance - You want to find a directory rich in many different categories of products rather than the quantity of products available. Many of the directories try to advertise how many products are available in their directory (i.e. 500,000 products). Why is the number of categories important? A directory will not serve you well if it has hundreds of thousands of products, and none of them are in your product interest category. A directory with a good balance has focused on their categories of drop shipper products rather than the quantity. This gives you a better chance of finding something for your line of business. Top 5 Dot Com Myths Debunked Most people who get into business know what's involved. They have completed hours of research before getting into it. That's great! Even so, we may still have some myths that need to be debunked. Now and forever. We all may have some lingering ideas; after all many have these myths are quite tempting. However, it's important for serious business owners to quickly get them out of the way so some really forward moves can be made. In the world of the Internet businesses, the industry is rife with myths that ultimately can be as harmless as a distraction or as worse as a serious loss in capital, which could ultimately lead to business failure. Credit Card Processing - 7 Things You Need to Know Before Opening an Online Merchant Account When considering opening an online merchant account to accept credit card orders, there are a lot of things you need to keep in mind. The best thing to do is learn all about credit card processing before you open your online merchant account so you can handle everything from the beginning rather than having to go back and make many changes. Is It Easy to Build An E-commerce Web Site? --Online Commerce-- Accept Credit Cards Online Without a Merchant Account There are two major ways to accept credit cards on your website. The first and most expensive is to have your own merchant account. Not only is this option expensive, it also requires extensive credit checks, lots of paperwork, and usually takes days or weeks before you get approved. Fortunately, there is an alternative. Beginner Ecommerce Mistakes This is a short article because in the constraints of time and space preclude me from writing a 10 page article. Recently i built a ecommerce web site titled Cynscorion Products that sells knifes. I originally set out in July of 2004 to build an ecommerce site to bothe earn extra income and as a challenge to myself. Cost Effective Ecommerce Solutions Ecommerce use to be about spending thousands of dollars on setting up your shop and hundreds of dollars on getting a merchant. My, how things have changed over the years. Now anyone with a few hundred of dollars in their pocket(or less if you have the time to learn it yourself) can have a great working ecommerce system up and running in the matter of days. This also includes the full ability to accept payments from Credit Cards, manage customers, create invoices and more. How Merchant Accounts Can Save You Money We all know that accepting credit cards is the key to online sales. Unfortunately, most merchants are unaware that acquiring a merchant account can actually save them money. And in many cases, big money! Is It Still Possible To Make Money On The Internet? Many people are saying that the internet is dead. So is there still money to be made on the Internet? Government Buying and Selling on the Internet Global Insight, a leading economic and financial forecasting company, (formerly DRI-WEFA), states that all levels of government (federal, state, and local) should see steady increases in the purchases of goods and services through the year 2009.
|
|
|
|
|
