How much Time Do you plan before touching the Keyboard?

[prabha_friend]

It could be Designing a Query or Writing a Program. How much time do you take to plan?

P.S:
Usually, I don't plan much just start with flow and keep with it but suffering a lot lately because of not planning well before...

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Depends on whether I'm writing a simple data entry form or something with more complex computations.

For my database of Movie discs I took about 30 minutes to lay out data fields and then create a form automatically. After that I moved the controls around to shoot for better aesthetics.

For my genealogy database, that took a few days of planning because it took, among other things, recursion and an EAV (entity-attribute-value) set of tables, plus a lot of self-relations in the tables. I.e. a person in the person table has a relationship to another person in the same person table.

Planning time depends on complexity.

 

[GaP42]

And if talking about meeting a business need the planning can be very extensive - finding out what the business need is, getting that confirmed, working out what is technical environment to deploy (including security and access) and what changes might be needed, identify risks, writing up functional and non-functional requirements / use cases etc/ mock-ups to manage and meet expectations, planning out the project controls and standards. etc etc etc... There is no definitive answer - you must tailor to the scope and resources available. Have you started on your management reading list? Project Management 101 - QUALITY - RESOURCES (COSTS) - TIMEFRAME balance. Reflect upon your simple Staff Leave Register request in your other Save My Job post

 

[Cotswold]

Often not enough if the truth be told. The start of a project is where the entusiasm is highest, so keen to get going. You can usually drag everything together as you go. But never pinch the time on testing after you've finished, or when you think you have finished. Test, test, test and test again. If you need to provide a manual, do it as you go. Not at the end when you'll be least interested.

 

[jdraw]

Remember:
"Weeks of programming can save you hours of planning"

 

[Isaac]

Plan first!

A week of planning is worth 2 month's of re-work

 

[Edgar_]

Remember:
"Weeks of programming can save you hours of planning"

 

[Cotswold]

Remember:
"Weeks of programming can save you hours of planning"

Whilst I see "Weeks of programming can save you hours of planning" as a broad brush rule of thumb.

Personally I would think that if an enthusiastic programmer of many years experience, with a quick and inventive mind. A person who has developed a large and varied range of serious applications, should repidly create the best analysis. Additionally, during the analysis process they should have compiled a list of software they can extract from their earlier applications which can be reused to reduce development time. Whilst software involves a great deal of theory, the end result is a hands-on practical tool.

You should find out as much as you can about the business operation and just how your software will be used to improve their business. One program I created reduced the staff count working on sales tickets and invoicing, from over forty clerks to three. I should have charged them on their payroll savings!

 

[The_Doc_Man]

In terms of preparation for a project, I usually refer to some general rules related to preparation:

M

Hello

www.access-programmers.co.uk

These rules aren't elegant and some folks might even dispute them. But they have not failed me.