Prototypes

Too often, prototype creep occurs. Prototypes end up being the production version, regardless of whether it is appropriate.

“We don’t have enough time.”

Is the most common excuses for not creating a production copy. However, we really should plan accordingly. There are many reasons for creating production versions from scratch. One being:

Once in production, a prototype will never die.

This is why “we don’t have enough time.” is dangerous excuse. We should make quality a requirement. Not a ‘nice to have’.

Throw away the prototype and start again, otherwise we’re defeating the whole purpose of having a prototype in the first place. Else when situation changes, (data source, requirements) you’ll end up with band-aid solutions to patch up your prototype; after all why should we pay attention to quality control if it wasn’t done before?

Exploratory Analysis

Exploratory analysis is essential, but that does not mean we should implement what was “quick and dirty” into production. Instead we should find ways to optimize and fully understand our data and data sources and prepare for changes to be made - not because our code is wrong, but because we know that there will always be changing requirements.