helping stakeholders to take a step back and avoid the "solution illusion"', by...
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Avoiding the “Solution Illusion”
A Thin Slice of Problem Analysis
Adrian Reed [email protected]
@UKAdrianReed
Covered today
• What is the “Solution Illusion”:
– Why does it matter?
– How might we know it’s happening?
• How can we help stakeholders to take a step back?
– Tools & Techniques
– The 1-page project concept
Queensland Australia.
Q. How much does it cost to implement a payroll system…?
Original Projection: AUD $6.13 Million (EUR 4.2 Million)
Actual [inc op costs] AUD$ 1.5 Billion
(EUR 1,040,000,000)
And….Not to forget…. • 190 Manual workarounds • 92,000 paper forms being processed every
fortnight • 1,010 payroll staff (85,000 total staff) • ~3,400 staff receive overpayments each pay
period ($1.7M AUD / EUR 1.2 M) • 2,500 customisations to “off the shelf” and “like
for like” system
No clear statement of problem
Inadequate assessment of complexity of
current situation
“A burning platform” – the
illusion of only one option
“Simple sounding” solution driving the
business
Some of the likely causes…
And a lot more!
Sound familiar?
What you might hear when the “Solution Illusion” is happening…
It’s a simple IT-only project
It’s off the shelf.. I presume we won’t
need to worry about analysis?
We don’t have time for any feasibility
work…
?
We already know what we want.
There’s no time for any analysis!
Now go away and deliver the thing and stop
asking questions
…not again…
A secret…
Don’t we all think in solutions?
Divergent and convergent thinking…
IDEA GENERATION DEFINITION & SCOPING
Maximise volume of options
Nail down definition and scope
Problem Analysis: Building the project foundations
Without foundations, cracks appear…
WHY?
WHAT?
HOW?
Project concept summary
Project concept summary: A “thin slice” of why, what & how
Pulling it all together
Problem Statement CSF / KPIs
Business Use Case diagram
(Roles & Goals)
Other Requirements
Possible Solutions Recommendation for
next steps
The problem of…..
Is affecting….
The impact of which is….
A successful solution would….
Problem Statement
What problem are we trying to
solve? Who are our
stakeholders?
Why should we care?
What are the benefits? How do
we know it’s done?
1. Marketing team set up new TV advertisement campaign to promote a great new offer…
2. Customers love it
3. Customers REALLY love it!
4. Phone lines are jammed
Example: A mail-order retailer
WE NEED MORE PHONE LINES IN
OUR CALL CENTRE!
The problem of congested and busy phone lines
Affects our customers and call centre staff
The impact of which is we lose potential sales… as customers can’t get through
A successful solution would enable customers to get information and make a purchase quickly without holding, leading to increased revenues (and profits)
Problem Statement: “WE NEED MORE PHONE LINES!!”
Identifying CSFs and KPIs
Problem / Opportunity Customer
Financial
Internal processes
Innovation “Sustain”
Roles & Goals
ROLES
Who has an interest in the problem domain/business system?
GOALS
What is each stakeholder (role) trying to achieve or do?
Business Use Case Diagram
Symbol Description
Business Actor Outside organisational boundaries
Worker Inside organisational boundaries
Business Use Case Interaction within organisational boundaries
Communication Shows interaction
Scope… Categorise each business use case/goal • Valid [out of scope]
• Existing [satisfied]
• Existing [Unchanged, Impacted] • Existing [Partially satisfied/not
satisfied]: • New [not satisfied]:
Other concept-level requirement types
Non-functional
– Reliability
– Performance Efficiency
– Usability
– Security
– Compatibility
– Maintainability
– Interoperability
– Transferability
General
– Multi-language
– Multi-currency
– Multi-region
– Legal and Compliance
Solution options
Pulling it all together
Problem Statement CSF / KPIs
Business Use Case diagram
(Roles & Goals)
Other Requirements
Possible Solutions Recommendation for
next steps
WHY?
• Problem Statement
• CSF/KPIs
WHAT?
• Roles & goals • Business Use
Case diagram • Conceptual
requirements
HOW?
• Solution options
Project concept summary
From Concept Level Requirements To…
• System Use Case
• User Stories
• Process Modelling
• Data Modelling
Closing thoughts….
• Call out the ‘solution illusion’ and ‘magic bullets’
• Encourage an early problem focus.
• Project concept summary can be a useful guiding beacon
• Where in your organisation are your business analysts located ?
• How are you adding value?
• Where do you think the BA adds most value?
• How do we measure that value?
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