Rapid Technology Assessment for Software
This service includes one or more of the following assessments:
- Software Technology assessment - This assessment looks at the overall technology, architecture and actual code base. What is the condition of the code? How appropriate is the architecture? How current are the technologies being employed? Are they in keeping with the latest thinking in commercial software development? Are the best tools and techniques being used?
- Development methodology and team - This assessment looks at the functioning of the engineering team. What is the development process, and how well is it working? What is the Quality Assurance strategy? How well does the QA team work with the development team? Is the overall development process well structured, too structured, or incorrectly structured? Is it oriented around meeting commitments, around being agile and responsive? What is the engineering culture; how well do the developers work together, with the rest of the organization, and with the executive team? What is the seniority of the team? Are there any weak spots?
- Roadmap and evolution assessment - This assessment looks at the evolution of the software. Are customers' requirements sufficiently factored in? How is customer and field feedback incorporated? Is the direction of the industry, of Microsoft, SUN, IBM, .NET, J2EE properly factored into the plans?
Approach
We always begin by reaching an initial agreement on what the specific objectives are, which often take the form of questions that need to be answered. Following that we conduct a series of intensive one on one, or group conversations with key members of the technical team, and with executives and others in the organization to quickly understand the current state and the future plans, both technical and business. We will usually conduct a technology and architectural walkthrough as well as request a demo of the software. Depending on the length of the project, there will be daily interim reports, followed by a final report.Engagement
The Rapid Technology Assessment includes:
- Initial goal setting meeting
- Between 1 and 5 days of on-site work
- Daily email-based interim reports
- An end-of-project meeting with all interested parties
- A final written report answering the specific questions