On Thursday, we thought our Plan of Approach was ready. On Friday, we discovered how wrong we were.
Last week, a fellow student and I started our graduation internship at CBYTE in Den Bosch. We were both motivated and eager to make quick progress. So, we wrote a Plan of Approach in advance, outlining the project’s context, objectives, scope, and planning. We had an interview scheduled with the client on Friday, but we thought we could finalize the document by Thursday.
Our company supervisor gave us feedback. The main point:
There are still many assumptions in the document (about existing or non-existing requirements, as well as freedoms that may or may not exist). Be very critical of your intentions and verify whether they are based on assumptions.
That hit the core issue right away. How can you document the approach to something if you don’t fully understand what it entails?
One example: we assumed the tool we were going to build needed to be scalable, so we formulated a research question around that. In the interview, however, the client made it clear that flexibility and modularity were more important. This not only meant that our research component had to change, but also that part of our previous thought process had been unnecessary.
The interview lasted only an hour but suddenly made everything clear. Our document became much more concrete, and writing it became much easier. The only downside? We now had to rewrite a large portion of it.
The lesson? Rushing can lead to double the effort. We wanted to move forward quickly, but waiting for the right information would have ultimately saved us time. Or even better: scheduling the interview earlier would have been the smartest move. Then, we would have had the information beforehand and could have started drafting the document right away.
Hasty start, double effort - Gerwin Kuijntjes
Still, it wasn’t pointless to create an initial draft. After the interview, we could iterate faster because we already had a structure in place. But thinking you’re done before having the right information is a recipe for extra work.
With this lesson in mind, we continue with our project. One thing is certain: I’ve already learned something valuable from this internship.