Project Deliverables, Quality, Guidelines and Best Practices

Sooner or later, every developer is asked for project deliverables.  This may be source code, binary files, or full-blown documents.  No matter which of these is required, the best approach is to make sure these are complete.  Thus, let's look at some guidelines, suggestions, and best practices to help you nail this part of your job.

Follow The Instructions

First and foremost, follow directions.  We should have learned this in grade school.  Just as in those educational exercises, project deliverables should directly come from the requirements.  Do not add deliverables unless they are implied.  More importantly, do not skip on any of the project deliverables.  The best way to look at these is to see them as what you will be graded on.  Just like any other assignment, you can knock part of the deliverables out of the park.  However, anything that is missing will blot out those great successes.  For example, you could build me the most fabulous car ever and skip the wheels.  How happy do you think I would be with that car?

Attention To Detail

The expectation of the project deliverables is that they are your best effort.  They will not be a rough draft unless otherwise stated.  That means that finishing touches like checking layout, spelling, and grammar should all be applied.  This point is also one where you can add value and exceed expectations.  The trick is to add value without piling on deliverables.  You may be able to add a few items, but the better approach is to increase the quality of the required items.  In short, avoid bells and whistles.  Add value by focusing on the requirements and delivering more related to them.  This value can be quality, speed, maintainability, scalability, usability, or other improvements on a deliverable.

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