product development

this refers to products as opposed to systems for internal use

Problem solving relies on what came before and what will come after

Sometimes it is not just what you do but the order in which you do it that matters. You absolutely must develop an ability to see several layers of consequences ahead of the solution as well as several layers of cause and effect behind the problem and then juggle them at once in the way … Read more

Requirements gathering the first big mistake.

Many seasoned project managers will start off a project by sending out his business analysis team to carry out requirement gathering.
Sometimes this is the right thing to do, in particular you should do this when you have a successful proven process that you want to automate using IT. Requirement gathering then educates the IT people responsible for system design (the features) on what they need to achieve.

This is a different scenario

Delivering benefits is no longer about getting a system signed off

(Who’s minding the shop?) This blog is an attempt to stimulate discussion and understanding of the balance of responsibility for delivering business benefits from IT investment. It is now fairly widely recognised that this is not as simple as choosing a system, getting it working and reaping the benefits, but as yet we can call … Read more

Lernaean Hydra, your time is up.

Simple, but powerful tools to truly build a relationship with the customer, some obvious gaping opportunities to cut costs and some basic principals of architecture that even the bin man could understand in one lesson and yet are ignored by 99 percent of technical architects. If you are serious about competing in business, read this. … Read more

Programmes are the reason so many projects are deemed to have failed.

If the Project manager rarely sees the battlefield, and spends his time constructing fantasy plans without ever checking with reality and assuming that things will stay the same, then imagine how far removed the average programme manager is.

Getting the mountain to Mohammed

Few IT professionals have any grasp of the difficulty facing a business person who needs to stay abreast of tough competitors and try to win competitive advantage via IT without understanding how IT works sufficiently to make the right decisions.
Few people in business have any appreciation of exactly how complex and demanding a job it is to ask them what they want, give it to them and get a “thank you, that was great.”

UAT – me, how do I do that?

The problem with C Image via WikipediaOTS purchases and traditional testing methods is just that.
Well, it’s just that the methods were designed for a world where teams of engineers spent months writing code and then began to stabilise it and introduce it slowly into the business environment until it was a stable release and a good match for the tightly defined requirements. At least that was the theory,

The Bridger

“Bridger” A person who acts as go between or translator between the management of a business and it’s IT department or IT partners. The background Since the arrival of computers in the enterprise there has been an unfortunate and counterproductive power struggle between IT departments and other areas of the business. IT professionals share a … Read more

Machine learning warts and all

I wont be long-winded about this, I’ll discuss it via email with anyone who is interested, but I’ll break with my usual mode and come straight to the point. A great many people who know little at all of machine learning  and even less about people and many more who are simply  oblivious to the … Read more

Tim Berners Lee is on the money yet again.

There’s been some hype going around that the internet volumes are beginning to clog its arteries and that there are issues ahead. TBL reacted to this by saying something to the effect that; the internet is not at risk form volume of information but volume of misinformation. Let’s just think about that. There was a … Read more

Managing requirement scope

Sometimes the definition of requirements and management of their delivery is described as Scope management.  Scope management is composed of five distinct phases: Scope initiation Scope planning Scope definition Scope verification Scope change control Scope initiation refers to the justification phase. This is when a Product management team create Market requirements and Product requirements documents … Read more

Requirements engineering strategy can make or break your project .

Part one – What would you like sir Part two – Requirements,tests, training, help files Part three – Why no project exists in isolation-what should be done Part four – Business rules, Process rules, Process, Data, different viewpoints Part five – Testing requirements is not optional Part six  -Requirements strategy can make or break your project If … Read more

Testing requirements is not optional

Part one – What would you like sir Part two – Requirements,tests, training, help files Part three – Why no project exists onin isolation-whwat should be done Part four – Business rules, Process rules, Process, Data, different viewpoints Part five – Testing requirements is not optional Part six  -Requirements strategy can make or break your project Yes … Read more

Why no project should exist in isolation and what needs to be done

Part one – What would you like sir Part two – Requirements,tests, training, help files Part three – Why no project exists onin isolation-what should be done Part four – Business rules, Process rules, Process, Data, different viewpoints Part five – Testing requirements is not optional Part six  -Requirements strategy can make or break your project How … Read more