Why Software Development Teams Often Fail To Get It Right

Read the following sentence carefully; twice if you need to. Then make sure you don't fall off the chair laughing once you realize that this is often EXACTLY what the average client ends up trying to convey after they finish reading the first set of project specifications! Only the words are different.

"I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."

And so it goes with the software development process. That's why all of the truly successful software development teams rely upon creating and presenting visual prototypes, including screen shots or screen mockups, in an effort to improve communications between all parties.

And let's not put all of the blame on the client for failing to understand what was said during the requirements gathering process. The opportunity to "get it wrong" exists between team members, between the team and the actual users, and between the team and the project's major stakeholders.

While we all agree that using visual prototypes represent the best opportunity for reducing project risk at the design phase, creating those visual prototypes can actually involve a level of effort that's nearly equal to the development phase, depending upon the size of the project and the number of screens involved.

To make matters worse, many top-notch software development teams don't have system analysts on board. The task of developing the requirements often falls to the programmer who has the best communication skills and who is capable of making themselves understood by mere mortals who speak an entirely different language.

But even those communication skills are not enough to ensure that what the client is asking for closely resembles what the development team is planning on building.

And that brings us back to the subject of visual screen prototype tools. These tools have a lot in common with the fairy tale of Goldilocks and The Three Bears.

Some of them are too hard to use. Some of them are too expensive to use, and some of them are too inflexible. It's hard to find the one that's "just right."

But all of that may be about to change thanks to a new visual prototype tool called MockupScreens. And although it was designed BY a software development team FOR software development teams, you'd think it was designed by Goldilocks herself because they got it "just right."

MockupScreens flattens the learning curve for creating visual prototypes. ANYONE can use this tool, and you don't have to know a thing about drawing.

The level of effort required to build rich, robust and 100% actual depictions of the software is less than it takes to point and click your way through a basic PowerPoint presentation. But the results are far more spectacular, and much more realistic, because all of the users and team members see actual screens that look just as they will when they are actually created by the development team.

If you already use a prototyping tool to deliver your screen, the chances are it falls into one of these categories:

1. It requires a great deal of input before it can create screens.

2. It's complicated to use and there are only one or two members of your development team that can make it perform properly.

3. It comes wrapped up in expensive annual licensing fees and support contracts that make you wince every time you renew.

Or, worse, you're using some "draw" program to create your screens manually.

If any of the above scenarioes sound familiar to you, then you really need to check out MockupScreens. Not only does the one-time license fee cost about the same as a week's worth of "Venti, no room" at Starbucks for your development team, but it's drop-dead easy to use as well.

In fact, MockupScreens is the fastest, easiest and least expensive way to get all of the users and your development team nodding their heads at the same time and actually being confident that they are all agreeing to the same thing!

It's probably the best way to eliminate most all of the project risk that occurs at the specifications and design phase.

The development teams that put MockupScreens together went out of their way to model the program after the simple process of manually sketching screens on paper.

MockUpScreens works hard to avoid distracting users with unnecessary details by depicting all of the screens in black and white so users stay focused on important things and don't get distracted by colors and the like.

But if you want to kick it up a notch, you can. MockupScreens gives you the capability to add comments, icons, questions and other elements right into the drawings. You can hide these elements from the users, and make them visible only to other development team members if you want to, or you can let it all hang out. It's your choice.

You can even hold the room spellbound by having MockupScreens generate slide shows that will take the users through each screen exactly as they will appear when the system goes live.

Because MockupScreens is so easy to use, you can make changes to the screens in response to user input, in real time, and continue right on with the meeting. Features like that are what raises your visibility and enhances your professional image in the eyes of the client.

But as I mentioned already, probably the best part of using MockupScreens is that you don't have to be an artist to use it. Heck, you don't even have to be a programmer. All you do is boot up MockupScreens and it's all gravy from there.

The keyboard shortcuts are intelligently designed and there's context-sensitive help wherever you need it (even though you probably never will need it).

Additional options such as an automatic screen resizing feature that automatically adjusts the screen whenever new elements are added, free you up to focus on functionality and not design.

Real-world tests with brand new MockUpScreens users consistently show that it's a snap to create as many as 5 screens in about 10 minutes! Try doing that with whatever it is you're using now.

MockupScreens is going to make you and every member of your design team heros in the eyes of your clients. And if you don't believe me, download the eval version at www.MockupScreens.com and see for yourself!