Broad Comparison among typical Web Application Project & Conventional Software Project has been drawn in the form of short questions or issues, which need to be resolved.
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Web Application Project |
Conventional Software Project |
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| 1 | Gathering user requirements:# What services are we going to offer our customers? # What is the best user interface and navigation to reach the most important pageswith a minimum of clicks?# What are the cunenttrends and hot technologies?This is typically based on discussions, notes and ideas. |
Gathering user requirements:
# What are we going to build?
# How does it compare to products currently available?
This is typically supported by a detailed requirements specifications. |
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| 2 | Planning:
# We need to get this product out now.
This is purely driven by available time window and resources. |
Planning:
# How long will it take our available resources to build this product?
# How will we test this product?
This typically involves experience-based estimation and planning. |
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| 3 | Analysis and Design:
# How should the site look? # What kinds of logos and graphics will we use? # How do we develop a ‘brand’ for our site? # Who is our ‘typical’ customer? # How can we make it usable? # What technologies will we use?
This involves short, iterative cycles of design moving parallel with implementation activities. |
Analysis and Design:
# What technologies should we use?
# Any designpatterns we should follow?
# What kind of architecture is most suitable?
This is mostly based on well known technologies and design methods. This is generally complete before the implementation starts. |
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| 4 | Implementation:
Let us put in the framework and hang some of the key features. We can then show it as a demo or pilot site to our customers.
This is Iterative prototyping with transition of prototype to a website. |
Implementation:
Let us decide on the sequence of building blocks that will optimize our integration of a series of builds.
This involves sequential development of design components. |
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| 5 | Integration:
This phase typically does not exist. It is a point in time when prototyping stops and the site goes live. |
Integration:
# “How does the product begin to take shape, as the constituent pieces are bolted together?
# Are we meeting our requirements?
# Are we creating what we set out to create in the first place?
This involves assembly of components to build the specified system. |
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| 6 | Testing:
# Do you think – It’s just a website – the designer will test it as he develops it, right?
# How do you test a website?
# Make sure that all the links work properly?
This involves testing of implied features based on a general idea of desired functionality. |
Testing:
# Have we tested the product in a reproducible and consistent manner?
# Have we achieved complete test coverage?
# Have all serious defects been resolved in some manner?
This involves systematic testing of functionality against specifications. |
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| 7 | Release:
# “Go live NOW! We can always add the rest of the features later!”
This involves transfer of the development site to the live server. |
Release:
# Have we met our acceptance criteria?
# Is theproduct stable?
# Has QA authorized the product for release?
# Have we implemented version controlmethods to ensure we can always retrieve the source code for this release?
This involves building a release candidate and burning it to CD. |
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| 8 | Maintenance:
# We just publish new stuff when it’s ready.
# We can make changes on the fly, since there’s no installation required.
# Any changes should be transparent to our users.
This is an Integral part of the extended development life cycle for web apps. Average timeframe for the above can be around 4 months |
Maintenance:
# What features can we add for a future release?
# What bug fixes? # How do we deal with defects reported by the end-user?
This involves periodic updates based on feature enhancements and user feedback. Average timeframe for the above can be one to three years |
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