berry.kevin
Post on 20-May-2015
13.429 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
1
Copyright © 2009 by United Space Alliance, LLC.
“Bring Me A Rock”Getting the Right Requirements
Kevin M. Berry, PMP
2
Copyright © 2009 by United Space Alliance, LLC.
Let’s Play!
3
Copyright © 2009 by United Space Alliance, LLC.
Bring Me A Rock!What Went Wrong Here?
• Insufficient thought
– Too much deciding, not enough developing
• Confusing the means with the end
– “Requirements should be free of implementation
details”
• Blind Obedience
– “Yes Sir, No Sir, Three Bags Full, Sir!”
4
Copyright © 2009 by United Space Alliance, LLC.
Bring Me A Rock!When Do We Play?
• Management “Go Do’s”
• Early in a Project
• Defining broad, top level outline of a big
Project
– Project Charter
5
Copyright © 2009 by United Space Alliance, LLC.
Bring Me A Rock!Did Anything Really Go Wrong?
– Insufficient thought
• Visionary personality ≠ Detailed personality
• Do you want your leader to be a micromanager?
– Confusing the means with the end
• Leaders lead, planners plan, doers do
• Different skill sets
– Blind Obedience
• Natural tendency of hierarchical organizations
• Building two way communication requires two people
6
Copyright © 2009 by United Space Alliance, LLC.
But How Do You Communicate Up?
– People Skills
• Got ‘em or Get ‘em
• A choice, not an instinct
– Interview Skills
• Time honored techniques
• Invest early for greatest returns
7
Copyright © 2009 by United Space Alliance, LLC.
Interviewing The BossWhy Am I So Annoying?
– Avoid direct challenges
• “Do you even have a clue what you are asking?”
– Make the paper the enemy
• “How do I write this down so I remember exactly what you
want?”
– Engage in a positive conspiracy
• “I need to be sure I can tell the team exactly what we need”
8
Copyright © 2009 by United Space Alliance, LLC.
Interviewing The BossThe One Word Question: Why?
– The Five Why’s (Root Reason)
• Why do you need a rock?
• Why do you need a nail in the wall?
• Why do you need a motivational poster?
• Why do the employees need to be motivated?
• Why do you need to impress the CEO?
– (Sometimes Four is enough!)
9
Copyright © 2009 by United Space Alliance, LLC.
Interviewing The Boss
Could You Please Tell Me A Story?
– Operations Concept
– “A Day In The Life Of:”
• The Product
• The User
– The Two Word Question: “Then What?”
– The Three Word Question: “Tell Me More”
10
Copyright © 2009 by United Space Alliance, LLC.
Interviewing The Boss“Then What?”: Leading Them On
– “A floor worker walks up to the terminal and types in their name,
and there’s all the information”
• “Then What?”
– “They mash the “print” button and take it back to their station”
• “TW?”
– “When the job is done, they take it back and scan it in”
• “TW?”
– “The file goes to Work Control”
– Etc.
11
Copyright © 2009 by United Space Alliance, LLC.
Interviewing The Boss“Tell Me More”: Drilling Down
– “A floor worker walks up to the terminal and types in
their name, and there’s all the information”
• “Tell Me More” – (ie: “Oh, Really?”)
– “Well, they probably ought to have a password”
• “TMM”
– “And, the info might be just an hour’s work, not a
week’s worth”
– “Oh, and maybe it should …”
12
Copyright © 2009 by United Space Alliance, LLC.
What The PM Sees
How Do I Deliver A Vision?Visions and Goals are Ideas
But …
Projects make Deliverables What The Customer Sees
13
Copyright © 2009 by United Space Alliance, LLC.
But What Do I Make?– “Begin with the end in mind”
– “I need a metric” vs. “I need a chart”
– “We need a database” vs. “We need a report”
Good?
Bad?
Failures? Successes?
All?
Maj
or?
Widget Quality? Progress Towards Zero Defects?
Hours Lost Due To Illness?
Personal? Work Related?
Manager? Site?
Name? Anonymous?
Timecard Data? Government Billed?
14
Copyright © 2009 by United Space Alliance, LLC.
Hours Lost Due To Illness?
Personal? Work Related?Manager?
Site?
Name? Anonymous?
Timecard Data? Government Billed?
How Does The Product Affect The Process?
– Does the data exist?
– Does the process exist? Is it followed?
– Who owns the data stream?
Existing
New Code
New ManualProcess
15
Copyright © 2009 by United Space Alliance, LLC.
What If The Customer Isn’t Here?
• Huh?
• “Death By Blackberry”
– First and overarching choice – face to face meeting
– Second choice – telephone and (hopefully) video conference or on line collaboration to build draft product
– Third choice – detailed email of Q&A and suggested product
– In all cases, written follow-up of understanding & intentions
“Nd ur $$$ by thrs am inn mtg cant tlk till wed pm”
16
Copyright © 2009 by United Space Alliance, LLC.
What Should I Wind Up With?
– A well defined rock?
– What the customer wants?
– What the customer needs!
• The Requirement that matches their Need
• The Deliverable Item that documents their
Requirement
top related