Aspiring SE Tip #2:   Prudent Steps for your Proof of Concept

Quality POC’s are purposeful and lead to the Technical Win.

The following are critical elements of a successful Proof of Concept:

Current State: Describe the current situation that is driving the need for PoC. This should come directly from the customer through Discovery.

Desired State: Describing the agreed up future state of where the customer expects to be within their project timeframe.

Customer Business Initiatives: What are the customer’s business objectives of the PoC, and how will the POC tie back to these.

Proof of Concept Objectives: What are the PoC objectives. Top 3-5 solution workflows we would prove out in the PoC — not features list. 

Success Criteria: What will make the PoC successful, why and impact to customer. What does success look like for the customer.  This is critical to be able to get to a successful “Technical Closure”.

Scope: Document what should/needs to be ready before we start the POC engagement and call out what will be provided based off the agreed effort.  Get agreement from the customer before these kicks off.

Roles and Responsibilities: Define who will own each part of the POC, including when folks from the customer side are needed to move pieces forward.

PoC Deliverables: Any data results, documentation, demo, or presentation delivered from the PoC effort.  With hhigh-level timelines of the key milestones.

PoC Closure: Define upfront how you will bring the PoC to a close (technical meetings, executive close meeting, end of PoC meeting)