On May 11, 11:31 am, Graham Allan <[email protected]> wrote: > >"... get bits and pieces added for months before we've got anything > >useful." > > Have you got any insight on why the first few deliveries were not useful? > > I thought the point of phased delivery was that it did put something useful > out there early.
Whilst that's true the word 'useful' means different things to developers and users. There can be a mountain of work for developers to overcome in putting together an application that does anything at all. It is extremely useful to developers to deliver something (anything) that proves the system works in the real world but the functionality at this point can be so restrictive as to render it useless to the user. An example that I've seen recently being the delivery of the data entry component of an application with only the most primordial data display capabilities. > Do you think that maybe the functionality chosen for the first > delivery was incorrect? There is always an assumption that a partially delivered system is incorrect, at least in the short term, even if it is expedient. > Or that maybe it was just too soon, so customers only > saw foundations being laid? Or was the customer who mentioned it was not the > focus of early releases, and wasn't aware other users did receive useful > functionality? There are two common problems that I've witnessed. When do you start training the customers? Before the functionality is available (giving them time to forget what it is) or wait until nearer the final delivery (by which point they should already have been using the application anyway). How do you manage change? Most customers just want to do their job, not learn your application. If the new application keeps changing (as more functionality is drip fed into it) then you may be steadily empowering some of them but you are also steadily confusing (and potentionally alienating) others. > Or do you find it's a general perception that if the software > doesn't do everything it's not useful? "First impressions last." > Sorry, a ton of questions I know, but I'm soon going to be working in an Agile > shop, and would be interested to hear more about user's perceptions of it. > > Kind regards, > Graham > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "The Java Posse" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group > athttp://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en.
