Below is a snippet of a document I was writing for a client. The document itself turned out to not be the right thing, but the bit I did get done seemed valuable enough to hang onto. I release the following 4 paragraphs into the public domain ๐
The development process depends on a number of factors. Until these factors are in place the development of “code” is seriously hampered. While often only the “code” itself is considered development, in reality all the other tasks are all part of that concept:
- Specifications – a significantly complete, detailed overview of what task is to be accomplished is needed. This should include data from a user point of view as well as a discussion of the business tasks to be completed (data transformations and so on).
- Data Architecture – the sources for input need to be available, documented and usable. In order to be usable this data needs to be normalized and well understood in all its variations. If the data is coming from sources outside the control of the developer those sources need to be ready and available.
- Platform – the environment for devleopment needs to be available and working. That means the final machinery and / or development and testing machinery needs to be up, running and accessible.