Software Developing Process

Ahh, the softare production process, isn’t it a lovely thing? It amazes me how it takes less time writing the software than getting it approved by the department heads and the higher-ups. I started writing this Supply Database for my workplace in November of 2001. I thought I was done in the middle of December… and figured we would roll out the software by January. Unfortunately, things don’t happen that quickly.

Feature creep is always going to occur, and the best way to alleviate this problem is to modularize your program. In other words, leave a cushion in your program so you have room to change things if necessary. Dividing parts of your software into other pages is good, dividing routines into small functions is even better. Thinking ahead about the future use of the software is always a good thing, you should always leave room for expansion for later versions. This is what I keep telling myself everyday when I work on the program. I know people will want things changed, but how can I make it so the changes don’t take a lot of effort? :)

So the timeline for the software has been:
October 2001 – discussion of the new project to streamline the ordering of supplies process
November 2001 – designing of the program structure; asking questions and getting specs
December 2001 – Prototype of software was done according to specs from Nov. 2001
January 2002 – Functionality complete, work on user interface
Febuary 2002 – Presentation of software to Department heads; gather suggestions
March 2002 – Implement the new suggestions and features
April 2002 – Present to Department heads again; new suggestions; rework of heirarchy structure is need; implementation of new features needed
May 2002 – Beta-test softare with 5 departments
July 2002 – All deparments beta-test software

Software may not take long to make, but perfecting them does. ;)