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7 T I P Sfor better
requirementselicitation
Pete Frey has 23+ years of experience in information technology. His career has taken him from network operations and application development to project management and methodologies (and many places in between). Pete is a promoter of agility and lean thinking.
contact: pete.frey@grassyforksoftware.com
www.grassyforksoftware.com
make it all about the customer1
everything you do must further the
team’s understanding of customer value
seriously
everything
plan … but simply
2
Yes, you need a plan.
A B
and it should be simple.(you’re not creating a great work of literature here)
(and you’re not creating a legally binding contract)
It’s more about helping people understand than rigidly following a process
What does this team need to know to get started and keep going?
ToolsTrainingGeneral approachParticipantsTimelineMilestonesMeasure of doneNormal contingencies
If it takes more thana few hours then you’re doing it wrong!
be adaptable3
So you have a plan.
A B
(that’s good)
Now what?
A B
PlanVehicle, snacks, drinks, entertainment(tools)
Anticipated departure and arrival time(timeline)
Major stops and interchanges(milestones)
Who was going(participants)
General path and speed limits(approach)
Spare tire, oil, water (contingencies)
Now what?
Do we change
our plans?
Usuallyminor
corrections will do
Your plan guides you
to make better, quicker
decisions.
Your plan guides you
to make better, quicker
decisions.
Sometimes major
corrections are
needed
grow new techniques
4
How many requirements
elicitation techniques are there?
Personas
Focus Groups
Interviews
Workshops
Storyboards
Questionnaires
Role Playing
Observation
Brainstorming
Use Cases
User Stories
Functional Decomposition
Business Process ModelingDocument Analysis
System Analysis
How many techniques do you use?
How many are you willing to try?
Make elicitation more interesting and engaging for yourself and
your team.
engage visually5
Words alone can be boring. If you are writing a novel then words can be used to create pictures in the readers mind. Not everyone can do that. Creating rich literary works is a skill and it takes a lot of time. Most of us don’t have time to write expressive, rich, and colorful text in our requirement documents. So we are stuck with just the basic words that tell what the customer needs. Did you make it this far? Are you still reading this? Probably not. Why? Because this isn’t a piece of literature. This is something I wrote quickly to get my point across. Words alone can be boring. We need pictures to tell more of the story quickly.
Words alone can be boring. If you are writing a novel then words can be used to create pictures in the readers mind. Not everyone can do that. Creating rich literary works is a skill and it takes a lot of time. Most of us don’t have time to write expressive, rich, and colorful text in our requirement documents. So we are stuck with just the basic words that tell what the customer needs. Did you make it this far? Are you still reading this? Probably not. Why? Because this isn’t a piece of literature. This is something I wrote quickly to get my point across. Words alone can be boring. We need pictures to tell more of the story quickly.
B O R
I
N G
Business Requirements Specification
1. The system needs a login screen.2. The user needs to be able to enter their
user name and password.3. There should be a login button.4. If the wrong password or username is
entered we need to let the user know by displaying a message.
5. After the first successful login the login screen should show the users current account balance without logging in.
6. From the login screen the user should be able to access other services like ATM locations, branch locations and business hours.
B O R
I
N G
Business Requirements Specification
1. The system needs a login screen.2. The user needs to be able to enter their
user name and password.3. There should be a login button.4. If the wrong password or username is
entered we need to let the user know by displaying a message.
5. After the first successful login the login screen should show the users current account balance without logging in.
6. From the login screen the user should be able to access other services like ATM locations, branch locations and business hours.
Hey
customer,
is this
exactly what
you want?
BETTER user name
password
login
Current account balance is
$7497.32
branch atm login
it took about 10 minutes to draw this in PowerPoint
Yes, something like this but…
engaginginteresting
BEST
user name
password
login
Welcome backCurrent account balance is
$7497.32
Home Equity Line of Credit Rates at 3.5%
touch menu Thursday July 10, 2014
Dow up .5% today closes at 17049.38
This is what the customer really wants!
rotating
company
news
rotating
finance news
slide in
menu
17 minutes later
engagingexciting
BESTThis is what the customer really wants!
FastLow TechLow CostChangeable!!Not a wireframe!!!
user name
password
login
Welcome backCurrent account balance is
$7497.32
Home Equity Line of Credit Rates at 3.5%
touch menu Thursday July 10, 2014
Dow up .5% today closes at 17049.38
use a requirements management tool
6
Why would you not?
Word or Excel has to require more effort in the long term …
doesn’t it?
Versioning and trackingChange control
TraceabilityMaintenance / Updates
DependenciesReuse
Without an RM tool this stuff has to be
done manually
promote teamwork
7
People
over
Processes
Teams
over
Siloes
if the team cannot come together and work on the customer’s behalfthen all of these tips and all of your efforts are bound to fail
tedious reviewsmultiple approvalsboring documentsapproved plansprocess dependencydisagreementsescalations
signs of no teamwork
everything you do must further the
team’s understanding of customer value
q questions
http://www.batimes.com/articles/the-top-8-mistakes-in-requirements-elicitation.html
http://www.batimes.com/articles/requirements-its-all-about-the-business.html
http://www.batimes.com/angela-wick/seven-habits-of-highly-effective-business-analysts.html
r references
thank youQuestions? Comments?contact: pete.frey@grassyforksoftware.comor use Twitter, Facebook, Google+ links on this page
www.grassyforksoftware.com
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