I got a little ahead of myself, I think. I put together a proof of concept (POC) — with some valuable help from Rob — before working out my business requirements. Not that the proof of concept was wasted, as I got some useful feedback. Let me explain a little more, without giving the game away.
A couple of weeks ago, I came up with what I thought was a good idea for e-government. Now I have had quite a few ideas that I think are good, but that turn out to be flawed on thinking further, or on sharing with others. This idea seemed to pass the first test, but I wanted to create something that could be used to accomplish the second.
So, I created a little something that I could share with a few trusted people, and this I did. I got some useful feedback, much of it positive, which means that I'll now take it to the next level. Now it would be easy to take the POC to the next level, but that wouldn't be the right thing to do. (Actually, it would be quite difficult, as I soon got out of my depth in the PHP world, but you know what I mean.) The right approach is to define my business requirements and then work out what's out there that can meet these.
So, I've started to do this. The result may validate the platform on which the POC sits, or may mean throwing the whole thing away. Either way, the result will give me peace of mind that I'm going the right way, as opposed to using the first piece of software that came to mind.
Writing business requirements is a pain in the ass, but doing so will likely save a lot of pain and heartache in the future. Getting things right upfront is fundamentally important to the success of a project, even it it seems like taking a step back at the time.
Watch this space!
