Sure, it's obvious, right? Listen to the customers? Definitely. Listen to their pain points and their current process, and be prepared to suggest process change. It may be a difficult conversation, but it can only be beneficial for all parties.
If you remember nothing else from this document, remember this: Get a clickable prototype. This is a fully designed version of your software, mocked up with no code behind it. Let your users click all the buttons and interact with it as they would the finished product and listen to their feedback. Don't write a line of code until this is signed off.
A detailed feature backlog (in conjunction with your clickable prototype) defines what you need to build. Features should be defined at a detailed level, such as “Users should be able to log in with a valid e-mail address and a password. (Minimum 8 characters, including at least 1 number).” Prioritise your features up front - and revisit on a regular basis. Group your feature backlog into development sprints that comprise 2 - 4 weeks of work each. For each sprint, allocate at least one week of testing.
Test early and often. Automated tests catch issues before any of your team are involved, and the earlier they are caught, the less they cost. To start with, pick your key features, making sure to cover off internal and external features, and invest some time in replicable tests that get run whenever new code is committed.
You should be getting some real software you can install and play with regularly at the end of each development sprint (see 3 above). Even if you don't plan on releasing it live, pretend you do! Put these releases in front of your real users and make sure they are involved and excited. Revisit your feature backlog, reprioritise as required, and give feedback to your development team.
Need expert tech leadership without the full-time cost?
Daniel McKinnon is a fractional CTO with 25+ years of experience delivering strategic advice and hands-on implementation. He helps businesses harness emerging technologies to stay ahead of the curve.
Book a free strategy call with Daniel.
Sure, it's obvious, right? Listen to the customers? Definitely. Listen to their pain points and their current process, and be prepared to suggest process change. It may be a difficult conversation, but it can only be beneficial for all parties.
If you remember nothing else from this document, remember this: Get a clickable prototype. This is a fully designed version of your software, mocked up with no code behind it. Let your users click all the buttons and interact with it as they would the finished product and listen to their feedback. Don't write a line of code until this is signed off.
A detailed feature backlog (in conjunction with your clickable prototype) defines what you need to build. Features should be defined at a detailed level, such as “Users should be able to log in with a valid e-mail address and a password. (Minimum 8 characters, including at least 1 number).” Prioritise your features up front - and revisit on a regular basis. Group your feature backlog into development sprints that comprise 2 - 4 weeks of work each. For each sprint, allocate at least one week of testing.
Test early and often. Automated tests catch issues before any of your team are involved, and the earlier they are caught, the less they cost. To start with, pick your key features, making sure to cover off internal and external features, and invest some time in replicable tests that get run whenever new code is committed.
You should be getting some real software you can install and play with regularly at the end of each development sprint (see 3 above). Even if you don't plan on releasing it live, pretend you do! Put these releases in front of your real users and make sure they are involved and excited. Revisit your feature backlog, reprioritise as required, and give feedback to your development team.
Need expert tech leadership without the full-time cost?
Daniel McKinnon is a fractional CTO with 25+ years of experience delivering strategic advice and hands-on implementation. He helps businesses harness emerging technologies to stay ahead of the curve.
Book a free strategy call with Daniel.