A recurring theme on many of the projects I’ve worked on recently has been that of document templates. So I’ve decided to put my most commonly used here on the site. A few years ago standard templates became a big issue at the company I worked for – primarily because there wasn’t really any and this was affecting both individual productivity and client’s perceptions of the company. After much debate I persuaded the company to invest in a copy of the SPC’s EssentialSET, which formed the basis for most of the templates used thereafter. The EssentialSet templates are not pretty, but the are excellent in terms of providing a baseline of standards compliance.
The templates I’ll post here have been through so many revisions – over 40 to the base template alone – and have been used and improved on in so many projects – that they bear little resemblance to their originals, so I think its safe to make them public without stepping on anyone’s copyright.
What makes a good template? Apart from being based on standards and having survived numerous encounters with organisations both large and small, i’d say the ability to easily repurpose for the needs of the immediate project – and I think mine do that well. I know that some consulting architects consider templates part of their unique ‘grab-bag’ they take with them to projects, and as a result, guard them jealously. But I take a different view. I can bring these with me to projects, yes, but I think the ability to adapt and implement are more important qualities. I also hope that by publishing my templates I am in some way contributing to the body of knowledge for software architects, and as such I appreciate any feedback.
So, to kick things off – the most important template: the standard on which all others are based…
