Developer : What helps you picture a system?

Systems are complex things, they contain many components, from the physical to the ethereal software running around inside them, you have many considerations, from load to speed and timing, to ease of access and security, so many skills and so much to consider...

So how do you go about creating such systems?

I've had a wealth of experience, in different industries, which arm me with some hard earned experience of how I can best filter through all the complexities before committing too far in the wrong direction, and even more experience of how to rescue a system already too far in the wrong direction!

But as a new developer, a new system guy, or just an experienced guy joining a new team, how do should one best go about approaching the task at hand?

Here are my top tips...

1. Always listen, take notes, record or otherwise pin down the specification.... Walk and talk to the people asking for the system, get to know their mind-space as best you can.

2. Think before you act, many experienced developers take time to think of a solution, they'll diagram, discuss, brain storm or just walk through a problem.  These mental acrobatics are sometimes key to a project getting off on the right footing.  Younger, eager, developers often over look having a period of quiet contemplation.  Don't mix this up with not implementing the basics, an XML loader or a generic piece of code can be written, but what those general tools are put to use doing, the actual architecture, that needs thinking about.

3. Discuss the system, from top to tail.  If you're handed a spec, dissect it, talk to the author, talk to the target customer, talk to the developers who are going to lash themselves to the mast and go along with this vessel, whether it were to sink or sail.  Discussion is not thinking, from the previous point, you need to think your own path through the problem, and remember your path maybe different to others, your solution maybe different to others, this next tip to discuss the problem lets you exchange with others and ensure you are both reading from the same story sheet.

4. Repeat.  Once you have started to work, record what you are doing, talk to others about what you want to do, discuss how things are going and feed all this back into a new round of work, the next sprint, the next deliverable...

These are my positive tips... Have I got negative tips?... No, I have experience, and sadly I can't pass that onto you directly.