Set up for the proof of concept
It is important to get our proof of concept off on the right foot: a little bit of effort at the start will pay huge dividends further down the line. The most important thing we have to do is make it clear to everyone involved exactly what we are setting out to achieve.
Set up the team
Who do we want involved in our proof of concept? Well, everybody: or at least, a representative of each stakeholder group involved in the process. If we don't have full representation, then we might miss something and jeopardize the validity of the test. More crucially, those missing stakeholders would be well within their rights to withhold the sign-off and prevent us from progressing.
Full representation doesn't just mean a name on a sheet of paper, it means full participation in every aspect of the proof-of-concept program. The people who are seconded to the proof of concept must have the scope from their managers to step back from their day job, so that they can give us their...