The following is an excerpt from a recent presentation I did on Agile and Coldfusion - the subject of this excerpt is Detailed Specification.
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Transcript:
The dreaded detailed spec – or big design up front
To produce it is time consuming and expensive so it needs to have value it needs to bring benefits – does it?
Often its out of date by the time its been produced – this means that its difficult to finish it because there is always some detail that needs to be tweaked before it can be signed off.
Why do we need a detailed spec? if we don’t have one do we need to replace it with something else?
The finance team think they need it to make sure the money doesn’t get spent unless the requirements are all delivered to the letter – is this really necessary? Is it actually practical?
In most cases the project runs out of cash – goes beyond the delivery date and compromises are made to get it live – who benefits from that?
Is there a feeling that we need to be prescriptive to technology? Are we afraid to let them use their creative streak and initiative? If we are we will surely stifle innovation.
Do the project managers feel they need to understand and learn the requirements to cover their back when it all goes wrong?
The most likely reason why detailed specs are required up front is to secure the contract - the business wants to make sure that they are paying the right price for the software - and technology want to know they have enough budget to deliver and cover their costs
So both parties are responsible for creating this difficult and complex negotiation that holds up the project actually getting underway .
What’s a contract after all – just an agreement between two parties – how much detail is required to come to an agreement?
Organisations have been recognising for some time that its not wise to spend a year creating something with bells and whistles – its better to break projects down into small stages of delivery – that’s a good start but its not as easy as it sounds – many of the same old problems are still there.
If we’re dealing with detailed specs we can be confident we’re not agile.