gordons@mozart.cs.colostate.edu (vahl scott gordon) (06/14/91)
This is my third posting on this subject, so those of you who have
previously responded may ignore this.
I am currently studying Rapid Prototyping in the "Real World". By this I
mean the following: There is much literature on theoretical issues, tools, etc
for rapid prototyping, but very few actual case studies to use as sources
of data for evaluating the usefulness of the technique. I seek references
to published case studies, or personal accounts via e-mail. So far I have
located 24 case studies (17 published, 7 personal communications). The sorts
of questions that I am interested in are: Does RP result in better software
quality? Does RP result in more or less total effort? Must the prototype
be thrown away or can it be kept? Can RP be used on very large projects?
How does RP affect bidding/costing in a contract environment? What are the
pitfalls, if any, associated with the use of RP?
If you have a reference to such a case study, please email the reference
to me. If you have personal experiences which you could relay to me, send
me a note and I will send you a short list of questions (like a survey).
I'll guarantee anonimity if that is required.
My ultimate use for this data is a journal article. I have already written
a conference paper using the data I have so far, but would like to make
one more pass for any more relevant sources before completing the journal
article. The paper should be of interest to companies considering the
use of Rapid Prototyping as an alternative or enhancement of their current
software development practices. The focus is on "lessons from industry".
Thank you for any information you can provide.
Scott Gordon
(gordons@cs.colostate.edu)