Marry in haste. Repent at leisure

Alert: I am about at attempt to use a rather tired analogy of how choosing a marriage partner is like choosing software or vendor. There is a fair possibility that this post will dissolve into clichéd mediocrity, whilst there is a strong possibility that I will get myself into hot water with my wife. Bear with me. Here goes…

I’ve been married to my wife for 18 years. Before that we were together for 5 years. We’ve had our ups and downs, but mostly ups. We’ve produced two beautiful if slightly challenging children. Altogether we have a successful marriage.

I put this largely down to getting to know and understand each other before we tied the knot. Prior to entering our married life together, we knew what we had to offer each other and what we didn’t. We got married with our eyes open, warts and all (well, not warts, but you know what I mean).

I’m not suggesting for a second that anyone has 5 years available to them to choose software, but it’s worth bearing in mind that if a poor choice is made, you could be regretting it for years. Some of the programmes I have worked on expect the technology they build and configure to be used for 10-15 years. Getting it wrong can be painful and costly to put right.

So, how can you mitigate choosing the wrong software or vendor?

Creating and understanding requirements is key. Now, I’m going to assume that you or your client have a broad understanding of what the project requirements are and who the target users are going to be – market research, competitor analysis, personas, user journeys and experience maps are the order of the day. However, it is likely that no matter how much prep has been done, you won’t know what works well and what doesn’t until you actually see it.

This is where iterative prototyping can be used to good effect. By producing first, low-fidelity followed by high-fidelity prototypes, you and your client can quickly and cheaply understand what features and functionality your product needs. You could even test a few different versions with the customer. Read my high-fidelity vs. low fidelity blog if you want a bit more detail on how they can be employed.

A prototype will give you great insight into the software you need to choose. You’ll have gained a much better understanding of what is required meaning that you can have more meaningful conversations with software vendors.

So, to try and bend this blog back to the marriage analogy, why not take a bit of time living with some solutions before wedding one? Don’t be seduced by a slick sales pitch that will end in tears (yours). It’s unlikely that you’ll find an eventual partner that is perfect, but at least you’ll understand where you don’t see eye-to-eye and how you might go about dealing with it. It could save you a costly divorce in the long-run.