Item: Balsamiq
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

The analyst team uses Balsamiq regularly to wireframe use cases for business review and approval of concepts. The real gain is translating and throwing back to the business their requests as drawings, "You mean like this, with a drop down? No? Oh, those are called radio buttons; no problem." Ensures a common understanding.

Pros and Cons

Break out screen by screen so users can see what their final concept flow will be.
Ability to use multiple different kinds of images and icons (buttons, text, scribble, calculator icon, etc.).
Stores working concepts in different project folders to prevent overlap yet allows easy re-use.

I always just use a snippet to capture the drawing. If there is an export feature I've never used it. not really a complaint though, snippets are super easy.
Expanding the drawing area has to be manually done by putting in new objects and shapes. If you're not careful when you go to look at the final page (web version) there are hanging shapes off the edge.
Typing in longer text strings doesn't work well. I always just use multiple single entries.

Return on Investment

The yearly cost is totally reasonable. My manager looked at me like "Why are you bothering me with this? Just expense it."
For the newbies that roll on, I just have them poke around on the site and find training that suites them. I've done that multiple times and there training is fine. I only answer questions after they've tried their hand at it first. Easy to pick up.
You have to pay by credit card, which was an annoyance to Accounting. They prefer an invoice. But it wasn't a difficult hurdle to overcome.

Alternatives Considered

I just searched free trials and did a test run of Balsamiq for 30 days at no cost. I didn't even look at another product - this one met the immediate need to get a bunch of drawings done and out the door. At the end of the 30 days my manager didn't care, either, just wanted a decision so I made it: tried one, bought one.

Other Software Used

Team Foundation Server, Visual Studio IDE, Atlassian Confluence, JIRA Software, ProdPad

Likelihood to Recommend

I always start with a fast and furious white board drawing to get the basic flow and concept down, then sharpen it up with Balsamiq to run up the chain for management review and approvals. It works really well on single screen designs that are typically printed out for manual mark-ups. One team I'm on uses JIRA and there is a plug-in, but I haven't used it yet as that team sits together so the need to explain stuff to others is pretty minimal.

Usability

Very intuitive and easy to understand. It only takes minutes to get the hang of it and get back to work. For new analysts (like, brand new, fresh out of school) it's not difficult and they need minimal to no hand-holding. The training content that is embedded is easy to find and use.

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar	None

Easy Tasks

Open a screen and immediately start drawing.
The menu selections are pretty intuitive.
Multiple projects easily define work load.

Balsamiq - Easy Peasy

Overall Satisfaction with Balsamiq