Templates - they just help
About a year ago I needed to write up a specification for a
mobile application. In the past I would have thrown some dot points on to a
page, maybe added a screenshot mockup or two and a heading or two with some
text for good measure.
Two pages. Winner.
Not!
Looking back, these two pages would have been the stupidest
thing I could have done.
When I began working on Process MeNtOR it was suggested to
me by Peter Diggins that if he ever
started his own software company he would download Process MeNtOR Lite and use
that for all of his projects.
Having some respect for Peter – just kidding – having respect
for Peter I took his comments into consideration when doing the specification
for the mobile application and used the Application Model Template out of Process
MeNtOR Lite.
I went through each heading, forcing me to think through
what it was I was creating and what it was the customer wanted. I went through
headings like Scope, Assumptions, Business Problem, Application Flow and
Technical Requirements. I even removed some headings the seemed irrelevant (a
complete architecture for a single application on a mobile phone is a bit of
overkill). It didn’t even take that long!
Whilst some of the headings, like Assumptions, may not have
mattered to much to the customer on such a small project, it certainly helped
me nail down just what it was I was assuming and what I needed to talk to the
customer about in more detail.
The final document, only 5 pages, contained mostly dot
points. However, I was confident that I had covered everything the customer
needed to know and everything I needed to think through (in case of further
questions).
The customer’s reply was this is “definitely what I am
looking for.”
You can download Process MeNtOR Lite for free here.