Specifying and prototyping: Some thoughts on why they are successful

Abstract

Two methods that have been successful in producing good software are 1) specifying and then implementing and 2) prototyping and then implementing. This paper identifies what the two methods have in common, namely that the implementation is the second time through carefully thinking about the problem. It proposes that perhaps this common aspect is more important to the successes of the methods than other aspects of the methods.