factor10 Solution Designer

Field notes

Guided tour of factor10 Solution Designer

If you are about to start a new software initiative, factor10 Solution Designer can help you think through all the necessary aspects of designing a solution that works. Along the top you see a row of tabs, and which ones are shown depends on the "Perspectives" you have chosen. By default some tabs are also hidden, but the ones you find helpful can be brought out once you have come a bit further. Each tab is a tool meant to capture a certain aspect of your solution proposal. Invite the right people to collaborate until every tab relevant to your initiative is worked through. It is of course not about being complete or exact. You choose to show what is interesting and helpful!

 

The purpose of this tool

This tool is here to:

• Create shared understanding. A good decision, and the right action, begins
  there.
• Engage all stakeholders, even if most of them only read rather than change.
  Shared understanding requires looking at the same thing from several
  perspectives.
• Shorten the path to feedback and learning. Support fail fast.
• Help teams who like similar concepts to us at factor10, and who want a simple
  yet coherent tool, to illuminate many different important aspects of a
  software solution.

 

Not the purpose of the tool

This tool is not meant for:

• Deciding every little detail. Most decisions are best made when you *come to
  the situation and are sitting in the code, rather than through Big Design Up
  Front* (BDUF). Some things are also best described and understood in the code
  itself. And sometimes it turns out the question is not even relevant any more
  once you actually get there. Defer decisions as long as it is responsible to
  do so.
• Documenting an existing system by default. It is usually better to visualise
  the code, the data and the real-time execution with a tool meant specifically
  for that.
• Estimation. We would rather suggest the following default configuration¹:
  • quality at the top
  • scope as small as possible
  • pace as low as possible
  
  Deliver the most important thing every day, and reconsider every day what the
  next step should be. If a rough estimate is still needed early, which happens,
  a credible one requires that you have thought things through thoroughly. And
  that is exactly what this tool helps you with.

The idea is to provide the right amount of structure, without making you a prisoner of the tool.

 

The foundation the tool rests on

We consider these concepts to be cornerstones:

• eXtreme Programming (XP) and Test-Driven Development (TDD)
• Domain-Driven Design (DDD)
• Theory of Constraints (ToC) and Throughput Accounting

Plus a few somewhat later concepts in the same spirit:

• Continuous Delivery (CD)
• The Art of Action
• Accelerate
• Team Topologies (TT)

You will notice it in the tool.

You will also notice that we like the Whirlpool idea formulated by Eric Evans: Whirlpool Process of Model Exploration. So you are not expected to follow a fixed order. Rather, you will need to jump between tabs to illuminate need and solution from different angles, and change your mind as new insights emerge.

 

Perspectives

When looking at a software initiative it is crucial to use several perspectives. That is one of the tool's design goals. At the same time it is easy to drown in the sheer amount of information. So there is a filter at the top of the screen that shows only the tabs and settings relevant to the perspective or perspectives you have chosen. (Note also that for a newly created solution some tabs are hidden via the settings.)

The perspectives are all part of the same coherent model, though: they affect each other. What you choose is how much you want to take in at once.

Note that using all the tabs is not an end in itself. Use the ones that are useful for your initiative, and skip the rest (hide them under Settings).

 

Eat your dog food

We use this tool internally, for our own needs.

We work a lot on developing what we call Self-service Solution Configurators for customers. That kind of system lets our customers' customers design the solutions they need themselves, based on their domain and their specific circumstances. So it felt natural that we ought to use, and offer, a self-service solution configurator ourselves too. To practise what we preach. :)

 

Further reading

• factor10. Not cornerstones; it's a stack
  — on how the cornerstones interplay.
• factor10. Self-Service Solution Configurator
  — on the thinking behind the concept of the same name.

 

Final words

What gets drawn gets sold. If you create a good solution proposal in this tool together with your customer, there is a good chance you also get to be part of building it.

You will find more information at factor10 Solution Designer. Please send improvement suggestions to fsd@factor10.com.

Good luck with your design work!

 

¹ This style applies in a Delivery situation. For a Lab situation the "correct" setup looks completely different. (You set the Style of initiative under Settings.)