What is the best way to break down and follow project progress?

Question

Hi
When i wanna start a new project, I have enough details to just start it. And as all programmer needs, I need to analyse that project to understand how to write codes and classes and relations between them...
Normally, I do it on so many papers and its really annoying and also I can't consentrate so good (in huge projects).
I wanna know, what is the best way (or tool) to write implementation and designing steps to analyse, break down and follow project progress?

Thanks

Answer 1

i suggest VS 2008 > Class Designer, a handy tool, it writes clases behind class diagram and also has tools to help analyze archtecture.

Answer 2

I strongly recommend PowerDesigner from Sybase.

You can build requirements documents and link each requirement to classes. You can generate a physical data model straight from your class model. It supports a wide variety of RDBMS's. There's a 15 day fully functional trial at the link above.

If the project is huge, there's plenty of budget for this tool. It's a lifesaver. The ROI is self-evident.

Answer 3

This is incredibly easy. Use yellow sticky notes on a white board or large sheet of white cardboard.

Treat each sticky note as a seperate process. For decisions trun the sticky note so it looks like a diamond. This way you can move them around until it's right.

You can also split a complicated sticky not into two or three sticky notes. If you know that something needs to get done but don't know what that something is simply write "Process goes here ask (Marketing or Compliance)"

I've used this many, many times and it's very cost effective.