Entries for the 'Requirements Management and Communication (BABOK KA)' Category

» A Call to Every BA: 8 Mistakes to Avoid in Writing Requirements Specification Documents

(1928 Views) (2 Comments)

According to the Strategies for Project Recovery report by PM solutions, based on 163 respondents, $74m invested in projects annually are at risk of failure. The report identified one of the top 5 causes of project failures as unclear, non-prioritized, contradictory, ambiguous and imprecise requirements. Information like this...

Posted by: Stephanie Famuyide

» ISO 25010

(2472 Views) (1 Comments)

ISO 25010, "Systems and software engineering - System and software quality models" was published in March 2011. The ISO 25010 standard defines 2 broad non-functional categories of requirements, "Quality in use" and "Product quality", articulated in 13 characteristics, many of which are further subdivided into sub-characteristics. This new ...

Posted by: Adriano Comai

» Five New Year’s Resolutions for Requirements

(2587 Views) (0 Comments)

It’s that time of year, where our thoughts turn to the holidays…the holiday parties, the shopping, the lights, visiting with family! For many organizations, the end of the year tends to be quiet on the IT front, for no organization wants to risk introducing problems into their production environment at year end. So as I look back at th...

Posted by: Seilevel

» Is Traceability Possible Without a Requirements Tool?

(3225 Views) (1 Comments)

I have spent the last year and a half working on an enterprise software solution development effort where we do not use a Requirements Management tool like Caliber or Visual Studio TFS. Our requirements are created in Word using standardized templates and distributed to Development and Test teams for consumption. Test cases are written in Excel an...

Posted by: Seilevel

» Square pegs, round holes - why non-funcs are really not stories

(2718 Views) (0 Comments)

I've been blogging lately about a couple of topics pertaining to 'agile' methods. Along those lines, I wanted to consider one suggested practice that I think is worth reflecting on, that is; the treatment of NFRs (non-functional requirements) as stories. Let's draw back for a moment. Regardless of process approach, be it traditional or agile, po...

Posted by: FergalMcGovern

» Learned Processes

(2374 Views) (0 Comments)

I know you are going to call me crazy, but I just have to let everyone know. Machines are controlling us. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. You don’t believe me? Okay, I’ll explain. People come and go in organizations. Systems tend to stay much longer. Simple enough right? Here is the kicker. When that sy...

Posted by: Seilevel

» Enter the Business Engineer

(2775 Views) (4 Comments)

At Mendix, we find that our customers appoint a particular kind of person to work with our products. Sometimes they’re from IT, sometimes they’re a business analyst or project manager – in any case, they practice the skills of both fields. Times are changing, departmental lines are blurring, and a new breed of business superhero has risen: the BE. ...

Posted by: Mendix.com

» Requirements Engineering Conference Is Just Around The Corner

(1935 Views) (6 Comments)

Its being held in Sydney Australia September 27th- October 1st 2010.If you are attending this conference don’t miss out on the Requirements Engineering Education and Training Workshop that is taking place September 28th. Do you want to broaden your skills? Learn new techniques? This is the workshop for you. This workshop will add...

Posted by: Seilevel

» “So, what do you do for a living?”: A BA/Product Manager’s guide to surviving cocktail parties

(5027 Views) (5 Comments)

By Jhulgan I used to dread hearing the question, “So what do you do for a living?” This was often usually asked by a family member or other acquaintances not familiar with the software development lifecycle, IT, or business processes in general. For business analysts, product managers, and other software requirements types, it’s diffic...

Posted by: Seilevel

» Eliminating Software Documentation

(3458 Views) (1 Comments)

Not a suggestion for eliminating the process of documenting a software application, but rather a proposed for replacement of the documenting activity and manually produced documents with something more manageable and less likely to frighten the development team. Initiative for this work comes from a number of discussions I have been following and ...

Posted by: baldrick

» Best Practices - Ad Hoc Procedures

(2513 Views) (1 Comments)

Ad Hoc Procedures My belief is that software development should be more of a science and contain as little artistry as necessary. It is great to come up with ingenious processes and guidelines for developing your software, but if they impact your colleagues you must get buy-in from everyone who is impacted before you start using them. Some people...

Posted by: baldrick

» Best Practices - Document Content

(2558 Views) (1 Comments)

Unnecessary Documentation The first section that I look for in a document, is the paragraph that describes ‘who this document is written for’ and ‘what benefit they can expect to gain by reading this document’. If I do not see my role, or I do not see any benefit from me spending time reading the document, then I have to ask myself the question, ‘...

Posted by: baldrick

» Best Practices - Inconsistent Documentation

(1664 Views) (1 Comments)

If you are writing a letter to your mother, it is fine to create a new a new blank document, type your random thoughts, add highlighting, colors and emphasized text where you want to make and get a point across, and basically format the document with any creative ideas that you feel appropriate. When working with documents in the workplace, ad hoc...

Posted by: baldrick

» Best Practices - Ambiguity

(2346 Views) (1 Comments)

How many times have you experienced a disagreement between colleagues, only find out later in the project that they were both correct. Chances are that they were using the same word, but both had different ideas of its meaning. [1] I can derive hours of entertainment by playing word games with my friends, by picking a word they are using and purpo...

Posted by: baldrick

» Best Practices - Duplication

(1760 Views) (1 Comments)

How often do you see the same piece of information documented in 2 places? I am used to seeing requirements information copied into design documents; whole sets of requirements being copied into a test repository and diagrams copied from one document to another. Unless you employ a strict change management control system that includes a traceabilit...

Posted by: baldrick

» Best Practices

(2142 Views) (0 Comments)

This following blogs contain rants and recommendations for good practices, useful not only for when delivering software, but that can also be used any time organization is required. The most common improvements that can be leveraged on any (some on every) development process it has been my experience to be involved with, are the following: ...

Posted by: baldrick

» Thoughts on Specifying Requirements

(2612 Views) (0 Comments)

Requirements I have been working with requirements for more than 20 years. To be honest, it was several years before I understood the true purpose of requirements. The enlightenment came about when I was tasked with documenting a presentation to my colleagues that described the characteristics of a ‘good’ requirement. The characteristics that the ...

» Help your stakeholders review your requirements

(4334 Views) (1 Comments)

Posted by: Craig Brown

» Invest in User Stories

(3071 Views) (0 Comments)

User stories have a place in modern requirements management. They may not be going to replace use cases but you shoulod know how to write them well. Invest In Good User Stories View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: agile scrum)

Posted by: Craig Brown

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Entries for the 'Requirements Management and Communication (BABOK KA)' Category

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Entries for the 'Requirements Management and Communication (BABOK KA)' Category

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Business Analysts, Business Process Professionals,
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