In most Software Development Life-Cycle (SDLC) models, the first phase is often considered to be planning and analysis. In a real world scenario this often translates into gathering requirements, writing specifications, and so on. However, I believe this methodology skips an important step.
When a project begins, even when specific needs are put forth, it is in an abstract state and the path ahead is vague and unclear.
Think of this vague state as a blank sketchbook, an empty sheet of paper, or a table top covered with a plethora of Lego bricks. As an artist/writer/builder do you plan and analyze the path ahead or you or do you explore your medium? An artist will free sketch, a writer will free write, and a kid (or adult) with Lego bricks will pick up seemingly random pieces and snap them together.
This is an important and well respected process in many disciplines, and yet one largely ignored by the software development industry. Why deny people their natural urge to play with what’s at hand and discover what’s possible? Why suppress the natural human mechanism that leads to truly creative thinking?
A logical discipline such as software development does not preclude the need for creativity. Creating software is as much about innovation, a creative process, as it is of logic and reason.
Creative thinking and logical analysis cannot drive one’s thought-process simultaneously without one being a burden on the other.
Therefore, the first phase of the SDLC should not be planning and analysis, it should be a distict phase dedicated solely to a creative thought process. Every member of the team should be given the freedom to explore their own ideas. Concepts should be expanded, ideas researched, sketches drawn, prototypes developed, and possibilities discovered. Meet with stakeholders and share in dialog that’s driven by imagination and not requirements. Where once was an empty space, a vacuum, a blank canvas, there is now a living source of inspiration. This inspiration is the seed from which a truly successful software project can grow and thrive, inspiration often stillborn in our current landscape.
Please see the following for more insight into creative thinking:
