Strategies for Successful Fusebox Development

1. Strategies for Successful Fusebox Development Tips From the Trenches Maxim Porges

2. About Max • Started off as an business liaison to IT, ended up managing a department in IT • CFI/Westgate Resorts • Big Java/OO Geek, CF 4.0 - MX (CFCs) • My Team (9 people): • Me (architect, programmer, bus. analyst roles) • 1 Project Coordinator/Business Analyst • 3 Graphic/Flash Designers • 2 Architects (one senior, one junior) • 5 Developers (including the Architects and me) Maxim Porges

3. Why This Topic? • Attended 2002 Fusebox Conference • Left excited and full of ideas • Convinced our CIO to buy us Adalon licenses and let us deviate our SDLC from standard • Got our first project to try the new lifecycle out with, and then… ? Maxim Porges

4. What We’re Covering • Client Communication • System Architecture • Implementation (Coding and Testing) • Maintaining Your Fusebox Application • The Benefits and ROI of FLiP Tools • Q+A Session (possibly afterward) Maxim Porges

5. Client Communication Client Tells Analyst What They Want Analyst Interprets Requirements Client Interprets Documentation Analyst Writes Documentation Architect Interprets Documentation Architect Writes Specs Programmer Writes Code Programmer Interprets Specs Maxim Porges

6. Client Communication • 4 People • 7 Steps of Interpretation • Each interpretation increases likelihood of miscommunication FLiP breaks down communication boundaries and reduces/removes miscommunication Maxim Porges

7. Client Communication • Prototype • Site Definition • Requirements List • Wire Frame • Site Interview • Use multiple forms of documentation Maxim Porges

8. Client Communication • Site Interview (some of the questions) • Who do you expect and want to go to your web site? • What is the purpose/reason for this web site? • What do you want each visitor to accomplish on the site? • Are all of the visitors going to see the same thing? • Are any transactions going to be conducted on the web site? • What items do you want to be able to change without IT involvement? • Look for site? (Themes, ideas, or other web sites) • What are the goals for this web site? Maxim Porges

9. Client Communication • Site Definition Maxim Porges

10. Client Communication • Wireframe Maxim Porges

11. Client Communication • Prototype Maxim Porges

12. Client Communication • Requirements List Maxim Porges

13. Client Communication • Real World Time Frames • Site Interview/Definition: 2 Meetings • Wireframing: 2 to3 Meetings • Prototyping: 1 to 4 Weeks 3 Meetings • Requirements: 1 to 2 Meetings Maxim Porges

14. Client Communication • Estimating Development Time • Golden Rule:Don’t communicate time lines before consulting the architect • Good architecture usually takes as long as the site prototyping took • In FLiP, coding time is typing time • More developers = shorter timeline in a well architected project • Above not always true with multiple architects! • Don’t forget QA time. Schedule it in to the timeline • Of course - always under promise and over deliver when possible! Maxim Porges

15. Implementation Maxim Porges

16. Implementation • Choosing Your Development Team • Separate Skill Sets, Specialized Skill Sets • No Prima Donna Architects • Standards, Processes, Review Cycles • Everybody checks everybody • Shares effort, ensures consistency Maxim Porges

17. Implementation - Architecture • Purpose of Architecture • Produce all system specs, soup to nuts • Create docs/point of reference for future changes • Enables parallel development - hard to achieve usable results without good forward engineering • Write Good Specs • Assume no knowledge of the system • Write each set of Fuse requirements as if each is being coded by a different developer • Be specific and to the point Maxim Porges

18. Implementation - Architecture • Adalon Architecture Demo • Detailed visual modeling tools • Circuit, Fuseaction, Fuse and I/O Documentation • Stub code generators • Documentation generators Maxim Porges

19. Implementation • Sample Fuse Requirements Maxim Porges

20. Running a Parallel Shop Requirements Requirements Analyst Prototyper 1 Architect 1 Programmers Prototyper 2 Prototyping Proto Clean Up Architecture Architecture Architecture Development Development Proto Clean Up Prototyping Proto Clean.. Project A Project B Project C Maxim Porges

21. Running a Parallel Shop Maxim Porges

22. Implementation - Using OO • Use Objects as a Model with Fusebox as the View and Controller - it works great • Beyond the scope of this presentation Maxim Porges

23. Maintenance/Enhancements • Use FLiP when it makes sense • Maintain your FLiP document investments • Which would you prefer? • 1000 Word documents with incremental changes OR • 1 current set of documents - “snapshot” Maxim Porges

24. Adalon • Tools • Use tools (Adalon or otherwise). You’ll get great results • ROI of Tools is a great selling point for FLiP • Managers/Execs/Users LOVE cool diagrams • Adalon • Adalon happens to merge multiple tools in to one product • My experience: Adalon Version 2.x in combination with a few Word docs for two years • Version 3.0 and new features are awesome, will integrate more docs into a single product Maxim Porges

25. Tool A Tool B Tool C Requirements Tracking Process Modeling Modeling Tool D Tool E #!@&% (A Big Mess) Tool A Tool B Tool D Development Functional Design Tool E Tool C FLiP Using Multiple Tools Evolving Technologies Changing Requirements Third Party Integration Maintenance Maxim Porges

26. Adalon Adalon Adalon Adalon Development Tool E FLiP Using Adalon Requirements Tracking Code and Document Generation Process Modeling Functional Design Adalon Maxim Porges

27. Thanks For Watching! • Please ask me questions after the presentation • Hand off to Synthis for 3.0 Demo Maxim Porges