Analysis of Issues in Product Design and Development in Software Development

Software companies understand the significance of product quality as it often requires additional time and cost to address quality issues. In severe cases, it may even demand a complete redesign and redevelopment. This article aims to analyze and summarize the challenges that affect the quality of software products during the stages of product design and development in project-based software development processes. Specifically, it focuses on issues related to functional design, prototype design, and requirement review. By identifying these problems and proposing effective solutions, software companies can improve their product quality and meet customer expectations.

I. Product Design

1. Functional Design

After completing the requirements analysis, the product's functional architecture is planned, and a list of product features is generated based on the analysis. However, two main issues often arise during the functional design phase:

1.1 Insufficient detail in functional design

• Problem Description: During functional design, only the forward process is considered, neglecting reverse or other special processes. As a result, adjustments to the functional design are required during user testing, leading to delays.
• Causes: Overlooking scenarios during requirement analysis and lack of careful consideration of various user scenarios during functional design.
• Solution: Designers should devote their attention to simulating real user scenarios based on the analyzed information. If any unclear or omitted functionalities are discovered, immediate communication and clarification with users should take place.

1.2 Lack of abstraction for common functions

• Problem Description: Common modules within the system lack abstraction, resulting in redundant descriptions of the same functionality and potential complications during future feature changes.
• Causes: Designers fail to view product functionality from a holistic perspective and tend to approach each part individually, without a unified product planning strategy.
• Solution: Alongside improving the design capabilities of product designers, it is crucial to strengthen the review process for product functionality design.

2. Prototype Design

After functional design, the Axure RP prototype design tool is employed to create prototypes based on the feature list. However, the following three issues commonly arise during prototype design:

2.1 Inconsistent component design

• Problem Description: Inconsistent design of components within the prototype, such as inconsistent text descriptions for the same content in different modules, varying sorting methods for lists, and the absence of unified components for dates or times.
• Causes: Lack of standardized guidelines within the department and insufficient project experience of design personnel.
• Solution: Establish a standardized component library for both mobile and web versions, and ensure that all project designs utilize components from this library. Create a self-checklist for prototype design within the department, making it mandatory to review common checkpoints. Furthermore, encourage designers to learn and understand the standard components.

2.2 Unclear annotation instructions

• Problem Description: Insufficient or unclear annotations in the prototype design, especially for specific or critical logical explanations. For instance, missing annotations for field lengths or validation rules for button functionalities. These issues may be overlooked by experienced and diligent developers but can affect product quality and customer experience during testing or user adoption.
• Causes: Lack of a unified annotation template and requirements within the department, leading to personal preferences in annotation approaches.
• Solution: Develop a detailed requirement design template and ensure all department members utilize it as the final deliverable.

2.3 Slow prototype design process

• Problem Description: Interactive prototype design methods require advanced skills from designers. After prototype design confirmation, modifications and optimizations to the prototype can be time-consuming.
• Causes: Most department members are inexperienced, and the interactive prototype design increases their workload.
• Solution: Utilize components from the standardized component library and adopt a wireframe approach with textual descriptions for component interactions. Minimize the time spent on interactive effects design.

3. Requirement Review

Ineffective requirement reviews

• Problem Description: Insufficient distribution of review materials before the requirement review, absence of experts in requirements and design during the review, and the lack of constructive suggestions.
• Causes: Insufficient importance given to requirement reviews by the company and its personnel, as well as a lack of industry professionals within the organization.
• Solution: Enhance the significance of requirement reviews and adequately prepare for them in advance. Provide training and develop a pool of professionals while inviting customer experts to participate in requirement reviews.

II. Product Development

1. Detailed Requirement Explanation

• Problem Description: During the detailed requirement explanation phase, not all relevant development team members are involved. Additionally, the participants' understanding of the explanations may be inadequate, resulting in the need for further clarifications from product personnel during the development process, which impacts the quality and progress of product development.
• Causes: Failure to deliver relevant materials to development team members before the explanation phase, leading to poor comprehension of the information provided.
• Solution: Provide relevant materials to the project development team in advance, allowing them to prepare questions. During the explanation session, focus on addressing the questions and clarifying any doubts raised by the development team.

2. Requirement Changes

• Problem Description: Insufficient consideration given to requirement changes, resulting in repeated modifications and occasionally rendering previously requested features unnecessary. Moreover, the lack of communication with and notification of relevant development and testing personnel leads to the discovery of changes after their work is completed.
• Causes: A casual approach to requirement changes and inadequate management, causing confusion in the change process.
• Solution: Implement a requirement review system where external requirement changes must be submitted through change request forms. This prevents ad hoc requests, experimental demands, or individual preferences from leading to unnecessary costs. Internally, a responsible person should conduct a review and synchronize the changes with relevant development and testing personnel.

3. Version Testing

• Problem Description: Systems submitted for testing often reveal flaws in the workflow, an abundance of bugs, and inconsistencies between the developed system and the original prototype.
• Causes: Lack of integration testing when different modules are developed by separate individuals. Developers encounter issues during the development process but fail to communicate them promptly to the product personnel, resulting in independent development based on their own understanding.
• Solution: Product personnel should closely monitor the development progress from the beginning, holding daily stand-up meetings with developers to stay informed about the progress and address any development-related issues. Conduct initial system verification promptly after development to ensure the smooth flow of system processes.

Conclusion

Building a high-quality product is a challenging task. The journey from conducting requirements analysis to launching the final product involves multiple stages, with different individuals participating and potential information loss at each step. Software development is an engineering endeavor that requires effective management to ensure progress and quality throughout the software development life cycle. By addressing the identified challenges and implementing the proposed solutions, software companies can enhance their product quality and meet customer expectations effectively.