boomer

The term "Proof of Concept" crops up in the IT world quite a lot, so i thought that i would bounce a question of ya all in here...

There is currently an argument, er, polite discussion at work about the best way to describe an exercise where you test a proposed new "system" in a known and controlled environment to determine whether it is suitable for rolling out to the whole of an organisation.

Our Sales staff seem to think (note, not our customers) that Proof of Concept implies testing something because you are not convinced that it will work - e.g. it is an un-proven prototype rather than a validated product.

Other descriptions that could be used include "evaluation" or "pilot". Imho i think that an evaluation is a quick trial of a simple product (e.g. AutoRoute) rather than an integrated business system, and "pilot" is what you call the initial implementation on the live network.

So, does "Proof of Concept" conjure up visions of an crock of ****e, or a methodical way of testing a proposed new solution???

Thoughts from anyone, whether techie, managerial, dumb user or whatever would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

mb

ScoobyDoo555

FWIW, I think that "Proof of Concept" refers to proof that the actual conceptual idea is valid - it works.

Any help?

Dan

MartinM

Sooooo many words to define From dictionary.reference.com...

Prototype - An original type, form, or instance serving as a basis or standard for later stages

Concept - A general idea derived or inferred from specific instances or occurrences

Evaluation - To examine and judge carefully

Pilot - Serving as a tentative model for future experiment or development

.....and in my experience they generally they seem to be used almost correctly in the IT world and in your post....
- you build a prototype (maybe as part of a proof of concept)
- you do a proof of concept exercise
- you evaluate one or more proposed solutions
- you pilot a particular solution

Your 2nd para, however, is none of these...it's more commonly called something like system / acceptance / pre-live / go-live testing

All IMHO of course...

IWatkins

Around our way, we would call it a Beta or a Release Candidate. i.e. functionallity is all there, just needs some polish (and probably a stack of docs).

Proof of concept in my world is something you kludge together out of old bits of tat. and some lines of code to "prove" a "concept" could work. This would come before a prototype.

Cheers

Ian

ChrisB

POC is something we (at work) have been doing recently. Or that's what we've been calling it at least

POC was the first test in taking kit from vendors A, B and C, adding some customer developed software in and seeing it we could get it to do what we wanted a simple level. In this case it was to handle telephone calls in a certain fashion. The POC was to handle one call at a time and return the expected results.

POC went okay, at which point we started to move into a 'proper' testing phase. This involved a far higher volume of calls ie soak & scaleability testing etc.

Any help?

Chris.

Lum

Take the Microsoft approach and instead of "Proof of Concept" call it "Version 1.0" and charge people 50 quid for it.

GaryK

Yes it's all down to interpretaion I think. I've done proof of concepts or mock-ups to demonstrate or try a new technology and/or technique but they are nowhere near a functionally complete system. However if you are testing something functionally complete in a controlled environment then I would call that system testing or if you are determining 'fit for purpose' then it would user acceptance testing.

boomer

Lots of interesting thoughts and viewpoints - cheers

ScoobyDoo555,

Sounds like you are on my side

MartinM,

heck, even more words to throw in the melting pot!!!

IWatkins,

I must admit, your example conjured up images of the Wright brothers, bale-twin and balsa wood in hand, knocking up the first aeroplane - it has come a long way since hey

ChrisB,

you seem to be thinking along the same lines as me - proving that something will solve a given customers unique problem.

Lum,

Microsoft would never sell a v1.0 product - they all start at v3.0 (at least) these days I see what you mean about charging for it though

GaryK,

My use of PoC is certainly more at the "mock up" end, rather than formal system testing


Thanks again,

mb