[Phpwm] First Steps in designing.

[Phil Beynon]

> I thought I'd ask what other folks' approach to designing a reasonably
> complex application such as an ecommerce site was.

Start small, get it working basically then add functionality :-)

> I start by putting pen to paper and scrawling diagram after
> diagram, but I
> still find further on down the line that I have to redo a lot of
> stuff that
> I have failed to plan correctly.
>
> Is this because I'm crap at planning, or do other folk have similar
> occurences? :)
> Has anyone got any good links to resources on software engineering, that
> might be a good start!

My approach to this is dont try and plan an entire application at point
zero.
Write down the say 5 most important things it needs to do, even with an
ecommerce site that can be done as there is a massive amount of variation in
what an actual user wants.
Once you have done that write down 5 key features for each of the 5 main
points that you want to achieve.
On a completely seperate piece of paper write down any new ideas, add to but
file these away until you have actually achieved the above.

Function creep is the main killer of any project. I spent 18 months working
my ass off for a company that kept doing this to me, the project launch got
put back and back, they had meeting after meeting where it was 'add this add
that' and 'what if we do this' and 'change the way that works' - despite it
being exactly the way they wanted it two weeks before.
Eventually they ran out of cashflow and went bust and I barely covered costs
on what I had done.

Phil