Once upon a time, we wanted to use Test Driven Development (TDD) on a small ERP delivery project. This would reduce documentation by 70% and lead to a time saving of up to 40%. We were very excited.
Except, it didn't take off. But that experience taught me something really important about adoption of Agile in ERP projects. The missing link was simply this - because ERP (even small ERP deliveries) are huge, we were not able to visualize the end product. That is why we could not start with Test Driven Development.
Once we had the Root Cause Analysis, it was relatively easy. For the next application, I sat and visualized the ENTIRE application - all user types, with all their screens, and behavior of each button.
We didn't have the luxury of standard screens that most ERP customers have - they know the standard screen buttons available to them and know what they look like. We had to visualize the entire application from scratch.
But here is the important thing - once the wire-framing was done, it was much easier to do Test Cases. We simply knew what to expect!
So here's the recommendation - when we try to do TDD, especially on non traditional areas like ERP, spend some time and expense on a soft skills trainer - and do a visualization, wire-framing workshop. For the business owner and users. If they can visualize what they want, the rest of the exercise becomes much easier. Today, I find Visualization to be a really powerful element in application design.
And visualization is a specialized skill. Usually, it needs to be learnt.
This article is contributed by Nidhi Arora, Co-Founder and Director at Topgain Consulting Pvt. Ltd.
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