Refine
This last one is cruel but kind. Our motto goes like this - "Fix First, Enhance After".
We have two basic refinement principles:
- Get the current stage right before starting the next
- Leave the bells and whistles to last.
Ignoring the first principle leads to costly backtracking, unravelling and rebuilding. The earlier something can be corrected and made right, the better and cheaper it is for all.
Ignoring principle two will sap your budget of its real potential. In our experience, 90% of the real-dollar-return, must-have features are delivered within the first 70% of the coding effort. The last 10% of features are disproportionately costly and worse, often fall into disuse.
Now don't get us wrong! Like all software developers, we get excited about the new technologies and we love to deliver the really "trick" features that extract the last drop of efficiency out of the application.
But we prefer to help you target those features and functions that bring you immediate return on your investment. That way we can actually deliver a better result more quickly. And before too long everyone will have had a chance to use the application and make their comments. Then we'll all be much more certain about the enhancements that will really be useful.
