BE Projects - 10 Tips for a Successful Project - Part 3
BE Projects - 10 Tips for a Successful Project - Part 3
Now that we have figured out a great Project Idea and zeroed in on the Technology Platform the next critical step is to define the core feature set for the the project implementation. You might ask if we have a good project idea does a feature set really matter. Yes it is . It is in fact one of the most critical factors in the success of your project and sometimes very vaguely defined. I recommend that you give sufficient thought to your feature set since this is going to define scope. Breaking down the project idea into a core set of implementable features is a critical activity that needs to be done carefully with the entire team involved in the process.
Here is an approach for coming up with a feature list of the project:
Brainstorm a complete set of features. Get the team together to brainstorm a complete set of features for the project. Reject nothing at this point every feature large or small are listed on a whiteboard in a open brainstorming session.
Rate each feature on 4 parameters: Innovation, Effort, Relevance, Impact: Each of the parameters are self explanatory and have an equal weightage. Each of the features are ranked based on the parameters and the top x features are picked up for implementation.
Define a Proof of Concept feature: Identify one feature from the above list of features as a core Proof of Concept feature. This is the single feature which defines the core of the project idea. Clearly scope out a proof of concept implementation for this feature.