Planning Checklist

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If you don’t plan your software, you’ll never know whether you’re building the right thing. Think about these points when you’re planning your software and development process:

• Answer the what, when, where, why, and how questions about your software.

• Come up with a succinct “elevator pitch” that you can refer to when deciding what belongs in the project.

• Use a mind map or other brainstorming tool to come up with a feature set.

• Define and document the requirements for your software.

• Use a scheduling program to keep yourself on track.

• Choose a methodology that works for you.

Are you ready to write code now? Not quite! In the next chapter I’ll talk about software architecture for small projects. Architecture provides the scaffolding that your code will hang on, and is an essential part of your project.

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