Chapter 1. Evaluating the Technical Feasibility of an Application

Application development projects often have limited budgets and constrained timelines, set by the stakeholders and upper management. These same people typically provide the business vision and funding for the project. They make decisions about which projects to execute based on both the business value of the resulting project and a professional developer’s estimate of the effort associated with the project. It is their confidence you need to gain before you will be trusted with the budget to execute the project. This means demonstrating that you understand the business problems you will be trying to solve and that you will be successful in translating their vision into tangible software before budgets and timelines are exhausted. To professional developers, this means reviewing requirements and recommending, evaluating, and refining a design for the application.

This chapter looks at how you move from the vision, goals, and requirements of an application to a proposed solution. This process involves recommending technologies, defining a design, and then vetting your recommendations through the creation of a prototype. You then need to demonstrate the feasibility of the project (and your design) to the visionaries and stakeholders. Ultimately, it will be their confidence in your proposed solution that determines whether a project is funded and moves from idea to implementation.