How We Work

Discovery

Every project begins with listening to our client. Our goal for the initial encounter with a client is to listen as much as possible and to thereby gain a solid understanding of the client's business model, the challenges the client faces, and the goals that the client hopes to achieve. This process may take place during more than a single meeting, depending on the scope and complexity of the challenges. After the initial meeting(s), we will conduct a review of the existing systems and begin to formulate a "big picture" plan for changes.

Many technology consultants are heavily invested in particular platforms and tools, and they tend to implement the same solutions across the board; they are selling high tech hammers, and to them everything looks like a virtual nail. At August Development we never make assumptions about what our clients need, and we can draw on experience with a wide range of technologies and products when crafting a design. We keep an open mind, and we have many tools in our toolbox.

Design

The design phase is the core of the process; we know that any time spent improving the richness and clarity of the design will be saved many times over when moving into the development phase. August Development uses Agile methodology for an iterative process of design. In the design phase, we use software tools created specifically to support the Agile process, including an integrated documentation system that allows us to merge seamlessly text, images, screenshots and traditional file forms (Word and PDF documents, flowcharts and "mockup" or wireframe documents) in a single web application. We use this software to produce design mock-ups that show both the clients and the development team what the proposed solution will look like and exactly what it will do. Since our clients have access to this software, they are always able to review the plans to make sure that the designs continue to be relevant during the development phase.The iterative nature of the Agile process allows us to make changes to the original design when required without jeopardizing the final product.

Development

We apply the Agile methodology to the development phase of a project as well, and use specialized management software to track development tasks and progress. During development, we translate the project's design information into discreet development tasks, or "issues," that we can track and organize in a variety of ways. Since every part of the design must be represented by an issue, there are no feature requirements that can be left behind or forgotten. If specifications and requirements change during the development process, issues can be easily added or modified to represent the changes.

Once the "nuts and bolts" part of the development phase is underway (i.e. the code writing), the ADC team employs several protocols to promote quality control and code integrity, such as unit and functional testing. Our distributed source control system allows the entire team to work on a project at the same time without introducing bugs or experiencing the inefficiencies of a centralized source control system. We also use automated scripts that remove to a high degree the chances of human error in the code deployment process.

As with the design phase, the development phase is iterative, allowing the client and project managers to review the full product as a work in progress at many points during the process. This ensures that development efforts keep pace with potentially changing business needs and that the final release is as relevant and useful as it was intended to be in the design phase, and possibly even more so.