Info
As of W6, our team has experienced challenges in maintaining contact with, and receiving feedback from our client, Roy (see: Contacts). This page outlines these difficulties and the measures we have taken in response.
Overview of Difficulties
In Week 1, the clients attended the first tutorial and provided a high-level overview of the product they’re expecting (see intro-slides.pdf). However, as suggested by the title, this document was very high-level and raised many questions.
While the document stated “Detailed specs can be provided as required”, in Week 1 - methods of communication where still being established as the clients were weary of having too many parties attempting to contact them at once.
Our tutor, Harry, proposed setting up a shared Google document where teams could collate questions to avoid duplicate/redundant questions. Later, this proposal was also expanded to a possible shared Slack channel. As of W6, this has still not been shared with the students - primarily due to struggles with the Client as we understand from Harry’s emails.
Similarly, in W4, it was suggested that the client’s were working on a more thorough requirements document (which would be very useful!) - but this has not been received yet.
Counter Measures
Our team has taken several steps to mitigate these communication challenges:
- Leveraging existing resources: For example, in our Breakdown of Reqs, we relied on the limited resources provided to us — such as intro-slides.pdf, high-lvl-reqs.pdf, and ICN Victoria’s website — to inform our understanding of the expected product.
- Applying the Agile process: By adhering to an agile approach, we ensure that requirements remain flexible and can be refined as soon as official documentation becomes available.
- Collating questions and artefacts: We have been carefully collating questions for the client and noting artefacts (e.g. UI Prototypes) that need review and feedback. This is especially important for the W6 Tutorial as the client is expected to attend. We intended to use this time effectively and efficiently.
Together, these measures help us maintain steady progress and remain well-prepared to incorporate client feedback when it becomes available.