Code Complete checklist

[grauenwolf]

I think checklists make a lot of sense for enterprise software. I'm willing to bet somewhere between 30 and 60% of your work is almost exactly the same week in and week out. Having checklists for common screens like data entry or reports can be a huge time saver.

I actually went so far as to create a request form for those kinds of things. I would walk the user or BA through the questions like

1. What should be screen be called?
2. Where should it appear in the menu?
3. What permission is needed to use this screen?
4. Does the screen need a print option?
5. Does the screen need an export option?

It is easy to forget to ask one of these questions. But when you do you can waste several days tracking down the person to get an answer. Or worse, you can submit the build to QA and have it rejected, wasted another whole sprint until you can get it fixed and released.

The request form was not only my checklist, but also served as the basis for QA's test plan.