Ronen Azachi – Master in Artificial Intelligence

I was writing for a prospect advise on how I excute a project from an Idea to an Implementation, I than decide to share it, and receive feedback from you.  Managing multiple projects and making them a success is a challenge. If done correctly in a clear process, you will elevate the chance that the project will be a success. The main obect on this article is  “Clarity” a way to make it clear to everyone the goal and how to get there.

A successful project, is a project that minimal energy has been invested in it. Minimal means in this context, you have put energy only where it was needed in each stage of the project. For example, if you are in the first stage of planning to build a house. It would be a wast of time to order a kitchen. As the kitchen can be too small or too big. Only what you have planned out everything, you can know what you need to have to make it happen. Note, projects that are withdrawn are also successful, because your work was used to “clarify” that this is not the way to go. There are much more withdrawn projects than successful completed projects! There are many projects that are completed but are not successful (overbudget, too long time, didnt not do as expected, too many revisions ext. )

As working on multiple projects I found it handy to have a check list between stages of Development. This process gives structure on how we work to the stakeholders in the project, the client, the development team, and me.

I see these stages fundamental for a project. To my knowledge the following are the main ones.

1. Top level Requirements
2. Module level Requirements
3. Functional requirements
4. Architecture plan
5. Development
6. Testing
7. Live

The flow is crucial to keep it this way. No jumping forward if a stage is not completed. The reason is because it is built in blocks, the same is in the real world. In the following i explain the need for each stage. There are other ways to go, this is the way how I see it.

EXAMPLE : Lets say you made some money from selling bananas. You want to build a house. You will go through these phases.

Technical term	Example from the Real World
Top level Requirements tajmahal	My top level requirments are: I want a nice place to leave in, a home that is fun and big. I have about 1 million $ for it. I want it to look like Taj mahal in India, It is welcome to my friends to BBQ and swim in the pool. Now you have a goal, this is a short description what you want. When a friend asks you what you are building you can give him the points above summarizing your goal.
Modale level Requirments	As we have a goal, we need to go over it and give goal a level deeper. This level is to have a bigger picture of what you want. Time here to look at other example, competion, market. Home that is fun and big 5 rooms 400 sqm size of land big kitchen a pool Big and square one. garden, big BBQ You now know what your house will have. Next is to dig as deep as possible. .
Functional requirements Zoom	Now you need to go deeper and even deeper than you think needed. This is where dessions are needed on how you want your house to be into the smallest detail. For example: Pool So you want a pool? How big is the pool? What shape will it be? Colors around… garden? how big will it be? What trees will be there? Do you want a sprinkle system? Room 1 How big how many windows? TV cable in the room? All these questions have to be answered if you what to get what You Want. I want to emphasize “If you want to get what you want”. If you leave this open to the contractor, he will do what he thinks. Again i need to emphasize “You know what you want, you have to ask for it”. You need to investigate, see competition (other houses),you need to brainstorm with yourself, brainstorm with experts. This is where projects fail (google it) and learn. Each minure you spend in this phase, will save 10 minutes in the other phases. …
Architecture plan	So now you take all the information from above, and put it on paper. You want to have a blueprint, that you can look at and see how all the pieces are in the correct place. But that is not enough, if you want to leave place for growth and changes. The plan should be build in small pieces that are one on top of the other. Lego style. So if you want there is a way to grow and make changes. Your architect has took all the requirements into the design and has also customized it so that you can make changes and grow in a little effort. The downside here is that you are in early stages and dont have time and money, and do not really know where thing will go when the cleints use it. If you 100% believe in your house, you did your homework. Than you should not have the need to save in this stage. Make it modular as possible so you can easly grow. …
Development	building the house. How long will it take, depends on the amount of man power you have and the dependency for third parties. Keep track of what is happening and request to see it with your eyes, and request to have a weekly update.
Testing	During the Development it is important to see what is being done, and check that it is as planned.  This to check that there are no misunderstanding between you and the development. A good Architecture will will minimize any misunderstanding and mistakes.
Live	The house is ready, everything is in place. You are happy, time to start living in it and enjoy the fruit of your hard planning and supporting your team throughout the project.

I hope it is now clear why this process is important for a project.

In the next post I will write how I see each phase should be done and which questinos should be answered. In a check list way.

You Opinion?