by Michael Smith

We are always seeking ways to improve communication between end users and programmers. I recently gave a talk on this subject at the Capitol PC User Group's Entrepreneurs SIG. The audience came up with a list of common communication problems that they had seen and we looked at how we could solve them using free open source tools. The issues we came up with included:

• User and developer speak a different language
• "that is not what I meant"
• Developer "knows" what user wants (doesn't really)
• Poor cost estimates
• Poor time estimates
• Confusion about who is responsible for what
• Late requirements, scope creep
• Invalid testing
• Multiple people – on either user or programmer site - causing miscommunication
• "Game of telephone" – miscommunication passed on
• People change – forgotten requirements
• Missed the mark of strategy
• How does it integrate into larger system
• Foreign Language issues

We looked at several tools and approaches to solve the communications problems:

• Wireframing: a blueprint for your application
• HTML prototypes: a photograph from the "future" of how your complete application will look
• DevNotes: a tool to document changes in scope during prototyping
• Formal signoff: to freeze scope before development starts.

For more details see article at http://www.cfug-md.org/articles/coldfusion_mx_and_fusebox.cfm