Media technology implementations are often characterised by late delivery

and going over budget. We believe that this is mainly because more traditional ‘waterfall’ implementation methods are fundamentally unsuited to media technology system implementations. 

Media technology implementations involve new user tools and new ways of working, and it is difficult to accurately capture these using requirement gathering techniques that focus on current processes. Organisations may also not have enough of the right technology skills to implement and support more IT-based media technologies. A typical outcome is asking too much from vendors, for not enough money and with not enough time.

Mediasmiths has developed our own methodology for media technology that factors in these inherent difficulties. We start by focusing on future workflows, not current and past processes, and map those future workflows to systems designs. We also recognise that many implementations are ‘package based’ rather than pure development, and our methodology can help organisations focus on configuring existing features rather than turning them into bespoke systems.

The key element in our approach is the use of an agile like implementation method that concentrates on short configuration or development cycles with input from users, so that the implementation can be constantly delivering. The focus on user input means that the system is constantly going through user based functional testing, which allows for faster and more informed input into feature configuration or development. In more traditional approaches, user testing is typically at the end, and substantial functional or interface changes may not be possible due to time or budget constraints.

In contrast to more traditional approaches, this brings forward delivery of systems, new workflows and benefits, while allowing the project to adapt to changing priorities or budgets. In an agile approach, if 80% of the planned work is delivered that will typically mean that 80% of planned features and benefits are also delivered. In the more traditional approach, the 80% mark of a project may have delivered nothing of value other than requirements documents and technical specifications.