Can we agree what we really want?

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 a.lewis@e2consulting.co.uk razorlabs.co.uk/blog @anthony__lewis