Process

[Kyle Olsen <jedimstr gifttree com>]

I've been developing intranet/internet applications for several
years now, and I'm beginning to see this discussion follow an
abysmal trend, and that is not following a development process.
No, we should not be talking about languages, etc. yet. We shouldn't
be talking about how to implement things, either - no talking of PHPLIB,
SQL, Perl, Python, or whatever.

We aren't at that stage yet.

There is a well-defined process used throughout all kinds of development,
and it works:

1. Project specifications
	By this I mean define requirements. This is an iterative process, so
	you don't have to try to think of everything all at once.
2. Code design
	This is where you *design* the basic workings of the application.
	You still haven't decided upon a language/back-end yet. You're
	just deciding *how* it should work.
3. Prototyping
	The first hard part. :) Pick a small part of the project, and make it
	work. This stage of the process is, of course, the one where you
	decide what language, etc. you're going to use.
4. Test the prototype
	Make sure that things are going as you expect them to. Identify an
	irregularities or design flaws, and work them into the project
	specification.
5. Code, code, code
	Based on whatever prototype worked for you, code the project.
6. Initial Debug.
	This and step 5 are intimitely intertwined, and iterative steps.
7. Celebrate
	Yay! Now you've deployed your first usable version, and you move
	on to the last step, which is horribly iterative and exhausting and
	generally leaves you wondering why you ever started messing around
	with code in the first place....
8. Maintenance/Revision


We need to follow a development process, this on, or any other that has been
proven to work. Discussing technologies before the requirements have been
established is a ridiculous and broken way of doing things. A clear project
leader is needed as well, to organize and guide us. I assume that's going to 
be Joakim. :)

Anyway, my $0.02US. I just don't want to see the project bogged down and 
derailed before it has even begun.


Kyle Olsen
jedimstr gifttree com

-- 
If the ends don't justify the means, then what does?
	-- Robert Moses