How to Use Wireframes to Improve Software Development Processes!

Howdy, Upstarts!

Wireframes are an excellent tool that can help you to write code cheaply and quickly, but only when they are used properly. In my experience, many software development teams don't use wireframes as efficiently as they could. So in this series of articles, I will take a deep dive into the way that Product Teams and Development Teams use wireframes and explain how to use wireframes to improve software development processes.

The focus of every good Chief Technology Officer should be creating an Engineering Organization that delivers software that brings value to the customer, and a good Chief Technology Officer should be looking constantly for ways to deliver software as Cheaply and Quickly as possible!

These are the watchwords of a good CTO: Cheap and Quick!

Building an Engineering Organization that can deliver software at a low cost and in a short amount of time, while still maintaining quality, is a challenge because money and time are always in short supply, and even more so for Early Stage Startups. Thus, it is the role and responsibility of the CTO to design a Software Development Process that consistently produces software with as little money and as little time as possible.

There are several frameworks to design a Software Development Process for your Engineering Organization: SCRUM, Kanban, Waterfall, and many more fun acronyms and euphemisms. Each of these methodologies provides a comprehensives framework for Software Development. But in my experience, one of the most significant pain points of the software development process is Product Team Handoff. By implementing a robust process for the Product Team Handoff, an Engineering Organization can significantly decrease the cost and drastically increase the speed of delivering software.

This Product Team Handoff is the major touchpoint between the Product Team and the Development Teams after the Product Team has defined a Software Feature and before the Development Team has begun implementing the Software Feature. It is an opportunity for the Product Team to use User Journeys, Designs, and Wireframes to work with the Development Team to create a Development Road Map and Strategy.

The Product Team Handoff is the primary point of communication between the Product and Development Teams. So, a poorly organized Product Team Handoff can cause a lot of problems for a Product Development Process, making is expensive and slow. But because the Product Team Handoff is so important, making the Product Team Handoff more efficient is a great way to improve software development processes, and making the Product Team Handoff more efficient depends on mastering how to use wireframes.

It's Too Expensive and Slow!

First, the Product Team Handoff is often more expensive than it needs to be. Software Development Teams rely on Senior Developers of Software Architects to transform Wireframes into Development Road Maps, and these people are expensive. If a CTO can empower Junior Developers or Product Managers to do this work, then their Engineering Organization can operate much more cheaply!

Second, the Development Road Map is often slower than it needs to be. The Development Road Map usually requires the Back End Team to write code, and then only when this team has finished their work is the Front End Team able to write code. If a CTO can enable both teams to write the code for a feature at the same time, then their Engineering Organization can write code twice as quickly!

Third, attempts to rush the Product Team Handoff will lead to breakdowns in communication and misunderstanding of requirements that will result in needing to re-write large portions of the software. Without very robust requirements, your Development Team won’t be able to meet the expectations of your Product Teams. If a CTO can consistently create robust requirements for his developers, then their Engineering Organization can write good code the first time and avoid wasteful re-work!

Improving the Process!

When I work with Engineering Organizations, I implement a strong and clearly defined process for my Product Team Handoffs that transform Wireframes into API Definitions. This allows me to document the expected behavior of a product with less experienced developers (therefore cheaper); it allows my Back End Team and Front End Team to write code in parallel (therefore faster); and, it provides well-documented and testable expectations for my development teams, which prevents the needs to re-write code (therefore faster).

Below you can see a quick illustration of my Product Team Handoff Process.

How to Use Wireframe to Improve Your Software Development Process in a Few Simple Steps!

First, this process starts with the Wireframes from the Product Team since Wireframes are the best way for the Product Team to illustrate the expected behavior of a Software Feature. Second, this process conducts a “Show and Tell” Exercise that will help Product Managers and Junior Developers rapidly articulate how the Wireframes should transform Users Actions into Software Commands. Third, this process applies a set of simple syntax rules to transform these Software Commands into a robust API Definition that follows industry best-practices. Lastly, this process then allows the Back End and Front Teams to write their code around this robust API Definition at the same time.

This process looks fairly simple when scratched on the back of a napkin, but the devil is always in the details. So in the next series of articles, I will provide an in-depth explanation of each step in this process so that you can use this process at your own Startup.

What We Will Cover!

Without a robust Product Team Handoff, Engineering Organizations can only write code with a lot of Money and Time, and Money and Time are two things that an Early-Stage Startup never has enough of. So a good CTO should look for ways to make their Startup cheaper and quicker.

In this series of articles, I will provide a walk-through of the process that I use for Product Team Handoffs to keep my Development Teams within budget and on schedule.

If you implement this process at your Startup, then you will be able to rely on Junior Developers and Product Managers to transform Wireframes to well-defined APIs that your Back End and Front End Developers can work on simultaneously.

So this process will help you deliver software cheaply and quickly, and will help you master how to use wireframes!