the dollars are in the details measuring the cost of requirements grb - v1.0

www.esi-intl.com

The Dollar$ are in the Detail$:

Measuring the Cost of Requirements

Glenn R. Brûlé

Executive Director of Client Solutions, ESI International

[email protected]://www.linkedin.com/in/toglennsnetwork

building talent, driving results 2

Agenda

Count on it…Breaking the Bank SAFE

Breaking the Bank

building talent, driving results

Consistently Challenged

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

1994 1996 1998 20002002

20042006

2009

Failed

Challenged

Successful

Chaos Reports ~ 2009 – 75% of our Projects are NOT successful!


Writing checks we can’t cash?

Why do we have to measure our costs?– Maintain/Grow market share

Are the products meeting customer expectations?

– Quality?– Costs of product to consumers vs.

the cost to build the products– Can we increase the profitability?

– Are we building the right products?– Are we efficient at building the right

products?Right peopleRight processesRight tools?


A Balanced Portfolio

Organizational Goals and Objectives

Goods & Services

Business Policies & Rules

Process

Tasks & Activities

6

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alue

Ana

lysi

s

Cor

e C

ompe

tenc

ies

Port

folio

Man

agem

ent


So What’s the Point?

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Goods & Services


Process

Tasks & Activities

Increased quantifiable probability of providing the desired deliverables and expectations to meet overall organizational goals and objectives through a clear understanding of our core competencies

Improved goods and services by virtue of standardized methodology/approach and more complete overall work, less iterations by understanding the output from our customer value analysis activities

Increased flexible structure checks and balances that ensure we are compliant with governance, internally or externally


So What’s the Point?

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Better requirements and more closely aligned and prioritized to work being performed

Stronger, well-aligned requirements to alleviate rework down the line

Having the right resources with the right competencies, completing the right tasks that they are capable of is critical to ensure traceability of deliverables to overall goals and objectives.

Finally, any one of these areas are areas for quantifiable consideration


Goods & Services


Process

Tasks & Activities


Nickels and Dimes…

Organizational goals and objectives– Increase market share by 15% from 7%– Increase revenue by 10%– Decrease the time it takes to respond to a customer

inquiry from 10 minutes to 2 minutesGoods and services

– Increase customer sat by 15 %– Decrease defects in products by 10% from 15%

Business Policies and Rules– Sampling of compliance with rules– Are they prohibitive or restrictive, or to ad-hoc –

could we improve or optimize performance here.

Processes– Increase efficiencies within our own process to

decrease cycle time or number of iterations or the costs of each iteration within an SDLC

Tasks– Are we focused on too many tasks at the

same time– Are the tasks prioritized– Are the tasks related to a real business value– Are the right people performing the right

tasks?

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Requirements Management and Development Assurance Model

10© ESI International, Inc. 2009


Top Down Metrics?

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EnterpriseAnalysis

Business Analysis

Governance

Enterprise ArchitectureSOA

PortfolioManagement

ProgramManagement

ProcessManagement

Project Management

Change Management

ITIL, RUP, AGILE, LEAN, Six Sigma, CMMI

GO

BUSINESS IT

© ESI International, Inc. 2009


Organizational Starting Point CMMI Model

1. Initial 2. Repeatable 3. Defined 4. Managed 5. Optimizing

Requirements Management and Development practices performed inconsistently

Standard practices and templates

Process is formalized (predictable)

Measurements collected and assessed

Continue process improvement

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CMMI Level 1

CMMI Levels 2-3

CMMI Levels 4-5

Measures for Maturity

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Phase I:Rollout Stage

Phase IIMaturing Capability

Phase IIIMature Continuous Improvement

Measures for Maturity

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An inventory for “measurable”

CMMI Level Framework Environment Resources Business Alignment

Level II Standards and Methodologies

Organization and Structure

Competency and Career Development Enterprise Analysis

Level III Metrics Governance Training and Development Portfolio Management

Level IV Tools Assessment Coaching and Mentoring Program Management

Level V Knowledge ManagementCustomer Relationships

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Rules of the Road

Remember…this is a journey…..

1. Measure to your level of maturity.2. It is best when a baseline can be obtained.

• If not, then just start and use initial findings that as your baseline.• Look at 5-10 projects of a representative sample• Change requests, help desk tickets, iterations, approval processes,

3. Know what your measures mean; i.e. what value the measurement provides to the organization.

4. Consistency is important. - stick with what you can put into place• Even if you learn that the measure needs to be altered; it might be prudent to continue to measure

consistently for a period of time vs. changing it without getting good baseline information.5. Benchmark externally whenever possible.

• What are the industry standards to compete on these levels – this is a true – thinking outside of the box type of concept!

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Count on it…


A Penny for your thoughts…

What are you tracking and measuring? How often?Who sets the standards? How realistic are they?How clear are they?How quickly do you need to report?How often?What variance is acceptable? (+/-)At what level of variance must you take action?What rewards and “penalties” will enforced?

© ESI International, 2006.19


Determine an approach that is SMART!

Specific

Measurable

Agreed Upon

Realistic

Timely



Measures for Each Level

Phase I: Rollout Stage Level of Organizational Change, i.e. Number of People Trained, Number of Organizations using RMD processes

Number of Requirements Failing an ‘Acid Test’ or other test to determine a ‘good’ requirement.

Phase II / Maturing Capability:

Number of Requirement Defects (Poor or Missing Requirements)Number of Requirements Changes resulting in Project ‘Rework’Customer Satisfaction of Deliverable

Mature / Continuous Process Improvement:

% Requirements/Defects compared to other Projects% Requirements/Change Controls compared to other ProjectsOverall Cycle Time (value of good requirements to satisfactory and speedy

completion of deliverable)Defects in post-production environmentPrediction of future activities accurately Six Sigma – optimization tool

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Phase I:Rollout Stage

Phase IIMaturing Capability

Phase IIIMature Continuous Improvement


Have a “controlled” approach

All methodologies/approaches can leverage metrics

Have a Process of comparing actual performance with planned performance, analyzing variances, evaluating alternatives, and taking corrective action as needed

Concerned with three elements of all aspect of the overall development of deliverables. From GO to tasks and activities.

– Performance– Cost– Time


Ward, Project Management Terms, p. 48Meredith & Mantel, Project Management, p. 508


Some Finer Points of Measurement

Consider amount of time/effort spent in each phase of your SDLC

Consider the number of iterations of each phase or overall iterations

Consider the number of change requests over the course of your SDLC

Consider the amount of “rework in each phase

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Business Architecture

Elicitation

Analysis

Design

Development

Verification & Validation


Cost of Different Types Requirements

Total Cost of Requirements + Total Cost of Effort = Total Cost of Solution

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Summary:

Consider the depth and breadth of “measurables” from the “top down”Match your approach to measurements according to the level of overall requirements maturityBe SMART about your approachThis is a journey…metrics provide the roadmap to know when you’ve achieved your goal!

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www.esi-intl.com

Questions?

Glenn R. Brûlé

Executive Director of Client Solutions, ESI International

[email protected]://www.linkedin.com/in/toglennsnetwork

the dollars are in the details measuring the cost of requirements grb - v1.0

Business

externallybuilding talent

right products

right resources

right tasksthat

increase customer

right sampling of compliance

level of maturity

overall goals tasks