Prototyping: some new results

This research describes a survey of experienced software development practitioners in large organizations for their perceptions of the relative merits of the prototyping and waterfall approaches. Some results of earlier research are confirmed but a number of new insights are obtained. Prototyping is used by developers who are mainly concerned with early life cycle issues; improved communication with users, increased flexibility of the design produced and for early discovery of problems. Non-prototypers prefer to use a waterfall approach because they are more concerned with later life cycle issues—level of control provided, good communication with IS personnel, and the robustness and maintainability of the systems produced.