In our CS540 class Monday we discussed prototyping. One recurring issue is how members of the team can prevent promotion of the prototype to a product. Recall that most prototype schemes are designed to support requirements elicitation and after the prototype is completed the appropriate course is to formalize requirements and then begin design. Unfortunately prototypes often take on a life of their own and sometimes the developers contribute to it.
So the question is how can we insure that prototyping is not misused. My answer in class was a strategic one involving architects and architectural reviews. However, in organizations where reviews are not in place (and may never be in place) what can teams do to prevent misuse?
For the contrarians out there, do you know of instances where promoting a prototype (excluding evolutionary prototypes) to a product was a good thing? I appreciate your input! Later.
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