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Client Interaction

Nupul Kukreja,Arlene Williams (MSB)12th September 2014

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Purpose• Breaking the ice • Do’s and Don’ts • How to get the best out of each other• Setting expectations – Work wise– Project wise– Knowledge wise

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What is the “team”?• It’s all “US” or “WE”• Not “I” or “THEM”

Team = Clients + OnCampus + DEN

• Whenever we say “team” we mean the “whole team”

• We’ll allude to “parts” explicitly

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DEN(IIV&V/IT/CS)

OnCampus(IT/CS)

Clients(Business)

Avoid Pure Knowledge Transfer

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Prefer Collaborative Learning

DEN(IIV&V/IT/CS)

OnCampus(IT/CS)

Clients(Business)

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Good Practices• The WHOLE team must:– Be on an email distribution list (e.g., Google group)– Be included in teleconferences– Have frequent interactions, even if brief– Identify tasks where the client and students (i.e.,

software engineers) can work together– Say “we” instead of “I”– Go out for lunches/ice-cream and reward

yourselves for interim milestones– Focus more on “system usage” than “system

development”

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Why are “you” here?• Discuss this as a team (5 minutes)– Students: • State 2-3 honest reasons, why you’ve enrolled in 577a • Mention if you’ll be continuing to 577b

– Clients:• Other than having a system built, discuss what other

objectives do you seek to have fulfilled?

• Understand everybody’s expectations so you can see what would make them feel like a “winner”– Will come in handy later!

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Creative Friction• Clients: – Encourage the student teams to say “No” when appropriate

• Students:– Have sound justifications for the above “No”

• Team: – It’s okay to disagree– Clarify the differences of opinion – Avoid staying mum (or bitter ) for too long!– Be polite – Language may be a barrier, be accommodating– Avoid conversing in your native language– Remember the mantra: We’re all in this together

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Get Yourselves a PM• As a team decide on who’ll be the project manager –

soon!• Project Manager:

– Note down “minutes” of the meetings and email it to the team– If the team members are “stuck” try fix the hurdle to ensure a

smooth working– Make sure the team has everything it needs to work smoothly

– ask them ever so often– Ensure “everyone” participates in the discussions– Coordinate things/timings with the client and student team

members– Stay up-to-date on the status of the team’s progress/schedule

and be ready to dive in if the need be

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PM Don’ts• This is just a role name - don’t boss around!• You “have” to do work, not a mere spectator• Avoid saying “because I said so”• Don’t micromanage• Don’t commit “on behalf” of the team without

everyone’s involvement• Don’t shout• Don’t just tell the client “because it’s a

deliverable”

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Client “Interaction”

Participation in Artifact Creation

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Client Participation• Student teams are not only developers• Think of getting consultants who also happen

to be developers (or vice versa )• 577ab teaches them to adopt business risks

and understanding of the initiative as a whole• Just developing the software is not the goal• Your participation is paramount, especially

with certain artifacts for the “consulting”

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1. Program Model• A model to help articulate and capture

‘program/business vision’• Ease of use for communication amongst

stakeholders• Helps see the ‘broader vision’ and all

encompassing view of the ‘program’

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Stakeholders(Who)

Initiatives(What)

Value Propositions(Why)

Beneficiaries(For Whom)

•Who/what resources are required for ‘executing’ the initiatives•Any ‘partner’

department or organization?

•What are the key activities that must be done to for delivering/ realizing the value propositions/ benefits? •Do you need to

hire anyone?

•Why undertake this project/ program?•What are the

value propositions you seek to satisfy/serve? •What are the

goals?

•Who derives value from the project/program? (Usually the customers or end users; can also be project sponsors)

Assumptions: Under what assumptions is this model true?

Program Model

Initiatives that need to be undertaken to help beneficiaries derive value from the expected benefits/value propositionsInitiatives that need to be undertaken to help deliver value to the beneficiaries (i.e. “how” will the benefits reach the beneficiaries?)

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Assumptions: Under what assumptions is this model true?

Program Model

Stakeholders(Who)

Initiatives(What)

Value Propositions(Why)

Beneficiaries(For Whom)

•Who/what resources are required for ‘executing’ the initiatives•Do you need to

‘partner’ with another department or organization?•Do you need to

hire anyone?

•What are the key activities that must be done to for delivering/ realizing the value propositions/ benefits?

•Why undertake this project/ program?•What are the

value propositions you seek to satisfy/serve? •What are the

goals?

•Who derives value from the project/program? (Usually the customers or end users; can also be project sponsors)

Cost Benefits•What are the ‘costs’ involved for

successfully implementing the program?•What are the measurable

(tangible/intangible) benefits?

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Assumptions• Growing needs of volunteers• Continuously growing volunteer pool• Increasing activities requiring more volunteers

Example – Volunteer Management System

Stakeholders(Who)

Initiatives(What)

Value Propositions(Why)

Beneficiaries(For Whom)

Developers Maintainer IIV & V Volunteer Volunteer

Coordinator Supervisor

Develop new volunteer management system

Create web application outreach

Develop improved volunteer management process outreach

Provide training for new job management process

Deploy job management process

Setup work stations for volunteer use

Improved Productivity

Faster volunteer management and less person-to-person time

Improved volunteer management process

Volunteers Volunteer

coordinator Supervisor

Visualizing Causality

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Discussion• Teams:– Hand over the print outs to your client– Discuss with the client the assumptions behind

the “program/business model”:• The project/product/program will succeed if and only

if ______ is true

– 5 minutes– If something is a 0/1 case, it may be a fact, not an

assumption:• Ex.: Someone should use the system• Internet connection is available• …

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Capturing The Requirements• Two-step approach employed at 577– Step 0: Capture Program Model and rank value

propositions– Step 1: Break down expected functionality into

high level features (a.k.a., Minimum Marketeable Features, MMFs)

– Step 2: Decompose each MMF into constituent requirements• Requirements captured as user stories

• All of above, captured, managed & prioritized using Winbook – homegrown tool

User Stories• We capture ‘software’ requirements as user stories• Usually of the form:

As a <role>, I can <activity> so that <business value>

Ex.: “As a Consumer I can see my daily energy usage so that I can lower my energy costs and usage”

• Details conveyed primarily through conversations and formalized via acceptance tests

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MMFs

Go to Winbook

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Discussion• Teams– Have the client list out a few requirements in the

user story format– Make sure everyone on the team is comfortable

discussing in the user story format• Clients: We expect you to state the

requirements in the user story format all throughout the course, good to practice

• 5 minutes

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Winbook Usage• De-facto “Project Management” tool in 577• Clients are expected to check Winbook

frequently– Add/Update/Modify content– Clarify/Comment on items

• Avoid falling back to email/phone conversations alone

• 577 staff can ONLY monitor Winbook

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Business Process Modeling• We ask teams to capture the “business process” in a

flowchart like format• The process to be captured is:

How is it done now?– If automating capture manual process– If “new idea” capture how have people managed up

until now• Necessary to know/understand what changes and

how much it impacts existing process (for the better)

• Provides a much needed “context” for understanding client needs

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Discussion• Clients:– Describe “how things are done now” to your team– Preferably in a step-by-step form– Not too detailed, just a high-level overview

• Teams:– Capture the above in a flowchart-like notation:

Activity

Decision 5 minutes

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Teams• Next week (9/15) – Off Campus– Program Model and Results Chain– Business Process Modeling

• The week after (9/22) – On campus– 1st WinWin Session

• Prioritize Value Propositions• MMF decomposition• Prioritize MMFs• Capturing of initial user-stories

• The week following (9/29) – On campus– 2nd WinWin Session

• Disambiguating user stories• Negotiating requirements scope (first cut)

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Welcome to 577a(b)

We hope you enjoy the ride