Planning and Design

The first step in developing or improving any system, process, or organization is planning.  Without a clearly defined goal and proper planning time and cost overruns are very likely.  But a plan is more than just a set of tasks, resources, charts, and diagrams.  These can be useful tools for documenting and maintaining a plan, but they are virtually useless in developing a plan or producing an effective system design.

Real design is the process of integrating the ideas of all stakeholders of a system to produce a vision of what that system should be.  True planning is the continuous process of developing, documenting, and implementing the policies and procedures that will help you achieve that vision.  If you have a clear vision of what you want your organization to be and how technology and software systems contribute to its success, you'll end up with better software that more appropriately fits your needs.   Our Planning Guidelines and Design Guidelines pages describe some of the techniques we use in planning and designing technology systems that may be useful to you before starting your next technology project.