can we agree what we really want?
DESCRIPTION
Slides for the talk on business requirements I gave at Project Challenge 22/03/12TRANSCRIPT
Can we agree what we really want? ""
Solving the problem of business requirements"
Anthony Lewis Managing Consultant – End to End Consulting
"The Statistics of Failure*
The top three issues… are:"• Business Process Alignment"• Requirements management"• Overspends"
* Understanding the sources of IS Project Failure, McManus & Wood-Harper, 2007
Management factors account for 65% of project failures"• Poor leadership in project delivery"• Poor stakeholder communication / management"• Insufficient management support"
Technical factors account for 35% of project failures"• Inappropriate / ill defined software requirements"• Inappropriate technical design
"ʻBetter Business Requirementsʼ *
Q: What is the single biggest thing that would improve the "quality of your organisation's requirements?"
A: "ʻEarlier buy in from the clientʼ""ʻA greater understanding by senior users of what they "were signing up to.ʼ""ʻLinking requirements to an existing problem and "perceived benefitsʼ"
*Project Magazine – May 2011
Q: What is the most important factor in project success?"A: "ʻSenior sponsorshipʼ"
"ʻInvolvement of end usersʼ""ʻQuality of requirementsʼ"""
What does it mean?
"“Methodology becomes a fetish, a procedure used with pathological rigidity for its own sake, not as a means to an end."Used in this way, methodology provides relief against anxiety; it insulates the practitioner from risks and uncertainties of real engagement with people and problems.”
The Fetish of Technique: methodology as a social defence, Wastell, 1996
Over the Waterfall
Requirements
Design
Implementa2on
Verifica2on
Maintenance
"An iterative approach""
Think
Design Build
Test
Translating whatʼs in our heads
Commanderʼs Intent
No campaign plan survives first contact with the enemy "! ! ! ! ! !Carl von Clausewitz"
"• Hereʼs what I think we face"• Hereʼs what I think we should do"• Hereʼs why"• Hereʼs what we need to keep our eye on"• Tell me what you think""Karl Wick, 1983*"
* from Sources of Power, Gary Klein, 1999
System X
12
3?
1 Terry registers on behalf of Bob
2 Bob receives confirmation email
3 Bob clicks on confirmation email and is registered
? Terry doesn’t get an email, and is not registered
“A problem well-defined is a problem half-solved.”"" " " " "Charles Kettering
Why
What
How
Who
When
The project funnel
Mandate
Requirements
Resources
Plan
Scope
Self-‐ Actualisa2on
Why
What Physiological needs
Safety needs
Social / emo2onal needs
Aesthe2c & cogni2ve needs
Who
How
Which becomes…
A Theory of Human Motivation, Abraham Maslow, 1943
Knowledge + Understanding = Meaning
Anthony Lewis [email protected] razorlabs.co.uk/blog @anthony__lewis