ASSIGNMEN

SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT ENGINEER]NG

SUBMITTED BY:ANNUM GHAURI08-sE-63

SUBMITTED TO;ENGR. MUFLIHA ASHRAFDATE:22"d December'09

l.Brainstorming

Brainstorming combines a relaxed, informal approach to problem-solvingwith lateral thinking. It asks that people come up with ideas and thoughtsthat can at flrst seem to be a bit crazy. The idea here is that some oftheseideas can be crafted into original, creative solutions to the problem you'retrying to solve, while others can spark still more ideas. This approach aimsto get people unstuck, by 'jolting" them out oftheir normal ways ofthinking.

During brainstorming sessions there should therefore be no criticism ofideas: You are trying to open up possibilities and break down wtongassumptions about the limits ofthe problem. Judgments and analysis at thisstage stunt idea generation.

Ideas should only be evaluated at the end ofthe brainstorming session - thisis the time to explore solutions fui1her using conventional approaches.

I n divid ual B rain storming

While group brainstorming is often more effective at generating ideas thannormal group problem-solving, study after study has shown that whenindividuals brainstorm on their own, they come up with more ideas, andoften better quality ideas, than groups ofpeople who brainstorm together.

Partly this occurs because, in groups, people aren't always strict in followingthe rules of brainstorming, and bad group behaviors creep in. Mostly,though, this occurs because people are paying so much attention to otherpeople's ideas that they're not generating ideas oftheir own - or they'reforgetting these ideas while they wait for their tum to speak. This is called"blocking".

Group Brainstorming

Brainstorming with a group olpeogJg is a powerful rechnique.Brainstorming creates ne eas, solves problems, motivates and developsteams. Brainstorming m6tivates because it involves members ofa team mbigger management issues, and it gets a team working together. However,brainstorming is not simply a random activity. Brainstorming needs to be

structured and it follows brainstorming rules. The brainstorming process rsdescribed below, for which you will need a flip-charl or altemative. This iscrucial as Brainstonning needs to involve the team, which means thateveryone must be able to see what's happening. Brainstorming places asignificant burden on the facilitator to manage the process, people'sinvolvement and sensitivities, and then to manage the follow up actions. UseBrainstorming well and you will see excellent results in improving theorganization, perforrrance, and developing the team.

Brainstorming in a group can be risky for individuals. Valuable but strangesuggestions may appear stupid at first sight. Because ofthis, you need tochair sessions tightly so that ideas are not crushed, and so that the usualissues with group problem-solving don't stifle creativity

Mind maps allow for greater creativity when recording ideas andinformation, as well as allowing the note-taker to associate words withvisual representations. Mind maps and concept maps are different in thatmind maps focus on only one word or idea, whereas Concept maps connectmultiple words or ideas.

2, Pareto Diagram

A bar graph used to alTange information in such a way that priorities forprocess improvement can be established. A Pareto diagram is a simple barchart that ranks related measures in decreasing order ofoccurrence. Theprinciple was developed by Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist andsociologist who conducted a study in Europe in the early 1900s on wealthand povefiy. He found that wealth was concentrated in the hands ofthe fewand poverty in the hands ofthe many. The principle is based on the unequaldistribution of thhgs in the universe. It is the law ofthe "significant fewve$us the trivial many." The significant few things will generally make up80% of the whole, while the trivial many will make up about 200lo.

The purpose of a Pareto diagram is to separate the significant aspects ofaproblem lrom the trivial ones. By graphically separating the aspects of aproblem, a team will know where to direct its improvement efforts.Reducing the largest bars identified in the diagram will do more for overallimprovement than reducing the smaller ones.

Pareto diagrams are named after Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian sociologist andeconomist, who invented this method of information presentation toward the

end of the l9th century. The chart is similar to the histogram or bar chart,except that the baxs are arranged in decreasing order from left to right alongthe abscissa. The fundamental idea behind the use ofPareto diagrams forquality improvement is that the first few (as presented on the diagram)contributing causes to a problem usually account for the majority oftheresult. Thus, targeting these "major causes" for elimination results in themost cost-effective improvement scheme.

3, Mind mapping

Mind maps are, by definition, a graphical method oftaking notes. The visualbasis ofthem helps one to distinguish words or ideas, often with colors ands)'mbols

Mind mapping software is used to create diagrams ofrelationships betweenideas or other pieces ofinformation. It has been suggested that the mindmapping technique can improve leaming/study effrciency up to 150% overconventional note taking.

Some mind mapping software is 3D, though full 3D functionality is difficultto achieve with the forms of interface devices readily available to users.Some mapping programs incorporate other leaming optimization techniquesincluding electronic flashcard style testing.

The following is a list of mind mapping software.

VI-TE,XMIND,PIMKI e.t.c.

When there are many choices, simple majority rule voting is often not thebest method for reaching decisions, if you want everyone to feel that theyown the decision. Yet with idea sharing and brainstorming activitiesfrequently taking place in workplaces today, voting is needed more andmore. This is parlicularly the case where the decision is subjective, wheredifferent strong views are held, where many members ofthe group havepower, or where strong commitment to the outcome is needed.

4. Multi-VotingMultivoting is a method ofconducting a vote with a team to select the mostimportant or popular items from a list witl limited discussion arrd difficulty.Use Multivoting to narrow down a list to a few high priority items. A

Multivoting session requires a group ofpalticipants and a topic fordiscussion that will generate a list of ideas, issues, or problems.

Multivoting nanows a large list ofpossibilities to a smaller list ofthe toppriorities or to a final selection. Multivoting is preferable to straight votingbecause it allows an item that is favored by all, but not the top choice of any,to dse to the top.

Multivoting Example

A team had to develop a list ofkey customers to interview. First, teammembers brainstormed a list ofpossible names. Since they wantedrepresentation ofcustomers in three different depaftments, they divided thelist into three groups. Within each group, they used multivoting to identiryfour first-choice interviewees. This example shows the multivoting for onedeparhnent.It is a $oup effort where each and every member ofthe group isallowed to give a number ofimportance to each item. Those items receivingthe highest rankings from the group should get furtherattention/consideration fi rst.

5. Fishbone Diagram

Definition: A graphic tool used to explore and display opinion aboutsources ofvariation in a process. (Also called a Cause-and-Effect orFishbone Diagram.)Purpose: To arriv€ at a few key sources that contribute mostsignificantly to the problem being examined. These sources are thentargeted for improvement, The diagram also illustrates therelationships among the wide variety of possible contributors to theeffect.,The figure below shows a simple Ishikawa diagram. Note thatthis tool is referred to by several different names: Ishikawa diagram,Cause-and-Effect diagram, Fishbone diagram, and Root CauseAnalysis. The first name is after the inventor ofthe tool, KaoruIshikawa (1969) who first used the technique in the 1960s.

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The basic concept in the Cause-and-Effect diagram is that the name of abasic problem ofinterest is entered at the right ofthe diagram at the end ofthe main "bone". The main possible causes ofthe problem (the effect) aredrawn as bones offofthe main backbone. The "Four-M" categories aretypically used as a starting point: "Materials", "Machines", "Manpower", and"Methods", Different names can be chosen to suit the problem at hand, orthese general categories can be revised. The key is to have three to six maincategories that encompass all possible influences. Brainstorming is typicallydone to add possible causes to the main "bones" and more specific causes tothe "bones" on the main "bones". This subdivision into ever increasingspecificity continues as long as the problem areas can be further subdivided.The practical maximum depth ofthis tree is usually about four or five levels.When the fishbone is complete, one has a rather complete picture ofall thepossibilities about what could be the root cause for the designated problem.

The Cause-and-Effect diagram can be used by individuals or teams;probably most effectively by a group. A typical utilization is the drawing ofa diagram on a blackboard by a team leader who first presents the mainproblem and asks for assistance from the group to determine the main causeswhich are subsequently drawn on the board as the main bones ofthediagram. The team assists by making suggestions and, eventually, the entirecause and effect diagram is filled out. Once the entire fishbone is complete,team discussion takes place to decide what are the most likely root causes ofthe problem. These causes are circled to indicate items that should be actedupon, and the use of the tool is complete.

The Ishikawa diagram, like most quality tools, is a visualization andknowledge organization tool. Simply collecting the ideas ofa group in asystematic way facilitates the understanding and ultimate diagnosis of theproblem. Several computer tools have been created for assisting in creating

Ishikawa diagrams. A tool created by the Japanese Union of Scientists andEngineers (JUSE) provides a rather rigid tool with a limited number ofbones. Other similar tools can be created using various commercial tools.

Only one tool has been created that adds computer analysis to the fishbone.Boume et al. (1991) reported using Dempster-Shafer theory (Shafer andLogan, 1987) to systematically organize the beliefs about the various causesthat contribute to the main problem. Based on the idea that the main problemhas a total beliefof one, each remaining bone has a beliefassigned to itbased on several factors; these include the history ofproblems of a givenbone, events and their causal relationship to the bone, and the beliefoftheuser ofthe tool about the likelihood that anv oarticular bone is the cause ofthe problem.