The Art in Foresight

In all my years of software development, I've never done anything the same way twice. Not because I didn't want to, but rather just because it was inappropriate. When you are starting a project you encounter not only a cascade of requirements and personalities, but also an onslaught of new technologies. You will therefore need to perform a balancing act incorporating a good bit of intuition.

One of the challenges of full-metal analysis is that three conflicting methodologies all need to be both performed and resolved. A sociological analysis considers the impact of the new design upon people and business processes. An object oriented analysis considers how to design abstract objects to adequately represent the business methods and data properties in a manner that will remain flexible. And a strategic analysis considers the appropriate strategic path of the company, path of the IT department, and ROI for the project.

Then beyond the analytical design, what languages, methodologies, and technologies are suitable to the task? What languages and technologies have industry momentum? Then using your foresight, what language and methodology will you wish you had chosen four years from now? Earlier I discussed in greater detail artful Vendor Selection; you need to recognize that developing a strategy to evaluate hardware and software vendors is every bit a piece of system development as writing the code.

When an executive looks into your eyes to see what you will do for the company, you either telegraph your future or you don't. Many times the only way to successfully develop a software product is to link to yourself in the future and ask for guidance for what you should do in the present. Foresight is the most important trait of a Systems Analyst or Software Architect.