Bridging between people and technology
(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
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,
1. It investment should never cost you money, it is an investment and the ROI should be clear.
Build a business case professionally and then invest with confidence.
The question to ask is; who would you rather trust with your capital, your own business, some investment bank, or maybe a fund manager?
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
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
If you began with a vague idea and kept changing things in the hope that you would eventually end up knowing what you wanted, then success is about as easy to find as the end of a rainbow.
Really! – Have you seen this new stuff?
This could easily have been Mick Jagger and Keith Richards after their first successful gig. In the modern world, it is more likely to be a hard working CTO talking to a COO about his systems needs
There a re a few fundamental rules to bear in mind when presenting any proposition:
1. Recognise and understand your audience so that you can directly target a known need or desire with your proposition.
2. Use the appropriate language and context to present your proposition.
3. Get your timing right.
4. Demonstrate understanding of and sensitivity to the operating environment.
You can talk to five different people who have that word in their CV and each one will probably have a different take on what a business case is for, who should prepare it and what it should contain.
In fact, you could say that the whole science around business cases, especially those involving IT investment has moved on substantially in the past two or three years.
A key to building a rock solid business case is to understand the relationships between requirements, features, benefits and risks and to take a methodical approach to evaluating likely ROI as a key part of the process.
After all the bottom line in any busines case is going to be financial although individual stakeholder priorities and concerns will play important parts as will the organisation’s history with similar projects and even good old office politics will often play a part.
At this point I would caution that despite the importance of the figures, it would be foolish to present a business case without taking into account the stated aims of the business in it’s short and long term plans and the key performance indicators and critical success factors of the key stakeholders.