Development process

One of our first innovations as a company was to adopt an iterative development methodology – this versus the sequential (or “waterfall”) methods widely in use. There is a common misconception that a delivery process sits “above” or “outside” the technology, governing its usage in the same way no matter the technologies employed. In fact, a good methodology is designed to fit the technology. It should be responsive: to the flexibility of new programming languages, and to the modularity of object-oriented architectures.

A critical component of our chosen iterative development method – the Rational Unified Process – is to attack risk. This is achieved by actually coding, early on, the most important and/or most complex elements of the system, as part of proving the design. This is in contrast to sequential development methods, where too often the theory of requirements and design isn’t put into practise until midway through the project. Such methods push enormous risks – of missed or misunderstood requirements, of design flaws, of problems in the architectural approach – into the later phases of the project, where they do the most damage. Instead of attacking risk, sequential methods too often have the result of “hiding” it, suggesting all is well until suddenly, it isn’t.

The Rational Unified Process prescribes four main project phases: Inception, Elaboration, Construction, and Transition. Each phase consists of a series of iterations; the output of each iteration is executable code that must pass test before start of the next iteration. In this way, architectural and design precepts are proven (or invalidated) early on, such that any problems can be resolved before it is too late, and too expensive, to make changes.

Effective use of iterative development is a key reason EzGov has made a name delivering complex projects in short timeframes. For example, the first releases of HMRC’s Self-assessment and PAYE applications – each involving thousands of tax and business rules – were delivered in an astonishing twelve weeks.

To learn more about our development methodology, including how the Rational Unified Process may be integrated with PRINCE2 projects, please email us.