The Marco Polo design methodology
We've heard about Rad and Waterfall, but, what about the Marco Polo methodolgy.
Marco Polo is a game you play in a pool. The person who is “It“ closes their eyes and yells out “Marco,“ and other players yell out “Polo. The “It“ player moves in the general direction of “Polo“ and then calls out “Marco“ again. By this time, the “Polo“ player has moved, and yells out “Polo“ in a new location. The complexity is increased with multiple players shouting “Polo.“
I've worked on projects where this game becomes the software writing methodology. The source of this problem is when coding begins prior to the project being properly scoped. The developer may be trying to ascertain what they are trying to build. “Marco.” As they move towards what they think the client wants (“Polo“), it turns out that either the client has moved on, or the client was never there and now, there are more players involved and it becomes quiet quite confusing.
Bleck!!! This is obviously not the “preferred” method.