Prototypically Speaking – The Software and Requirements Prototyping Blog

Designing software can be a lot of fun; it’s creative, empowering and when done properly gives a great sense of satisfaction at a job well done. It can, however, be quite engrossing and from time to time it’s all too easy to become totally absorbed in the process.

You see, great design is something we strive for, but it’s evasive. Getting there is hard. We can spend an enormous amount of time refining our designs in isolation, but there’s something we ought not to forget: without regular, relevant feedback from stakeholders or end-users, there’s a real danger that the design might have fundamental flaws that we don’t know about. And, like any building, if our foundations are flawed, we might have no choice but to tear it all down and start afresh.

This is why we need to develop our judgement on how much design is enough to solicit good, constructive feedback. Any more than this may be wasted effort. The mantra, which bears repeating often, is ‘a little and often’ where the design:feedback cycle is concerned.

It might take a while to find the correct balance, but once you do, you will be operating far more efficiently and that is a good thing indeed.