Monthly Words Of Wisdom: May 2000

MONTHLY WORDS OF WISDOM

MAY 2000

SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT RULES

1. The system is for the User.

2. Information systems are capital investments.

3. Get management to participate where it counts.

4. Don't be afraid to cancel projects.

5. Establish goals and objective for the system and quantify them. If no definitive goals are set, how will you know if you were successful?

6. If you can’t plan it, you can't do it.

7. Time spent on planning is not wasted.

8. Systems development is an interactive process.

9. Consider as many design alternatives as feasible.

10. The great leap forward is best accomplished in short comfortable steps.

11. Use documentation to structure the design process.

12. Build controls and check and balances into the system.

13. Procedures and training are as important as computer programs.

14. Conversion may require a system in itself and may be considered as a separate project.

15. People are the problem.

16. Good communication at all stages of the systems development process will solve many problems.

The above points come from the "Yellow" workbook used as a reference and resource in the Systems Analysis & Design course. We do not teach our courses from a book, but do have a workbook for each course that contains checklists and do's and don'ts about systems analysis, project management, communication, writing, etc.

Comments are always welcome to Paul Saunders at 615-367-1717 or Paul@SaundersSystems.com.