Reqmnt Analyst skills

The requirements analyst provides the essential function of bridging the understanding and perspective gap that lies between customers and developers. A competent analyst must combine communication, facilitation and interpersonal skills with some technical and business domain knowledge. Even a dynamite programmer or a system-savvy user needs suitable preparation before acting as an analyst.

The following capabilities are particularly important:
facilitation techniques, to lead elicitation workshops;
interviewing techniques, to talk with individuals and groups about their needs;
listening skills, to understand what people say and to detect what they might be hesitant to say;
writing skills, to communicate information effectively to users, managers and technical staff;
organizational skills, to make sense of the vast array of information gathered during elicitation and analysis;
interpersonal skills, to help negotiate priorities and resolve conflicts among project stakeholders;
domain knowledge, to have credibility with user representatives and converse effectively with them;
And modeling skills, to represent requirements information in graphical forms that augment textual representations in natural language

Requirements for a software product aren’t just lying around waiting for someone wearing a hat labeled “analyst” to collect them. At best, requirements exist in the minds of users,visionaries and developers, from which they must be gently extracted and massaged into a usable form. Often, they need to be discovered with guidance from a talented analyst, who helps users understand what they really need to meet their business needs and helps developers satisfy those needs. Few project roles are more difficult than that of requirements analyst. Few are more critical.

For More in-depth info refer to the book "Software Requirements" by Karl Weigers

process of learning

Excerpts from The Analysis of Mind by Bertrand Russell

The process of learning, which consists in the acquisition of habits, has been much studied in various animals.* For example: you put a hungry animal, say a cat, in a cage which has a door that can be opened by lifting a latch; outside the cage you put food. The cat at first dashes all round the cage, making frantic efforts to force a way out. At last, by accident, the latch is lifted. and the cat pounces on the food. Next day you repeat the experiment, and you find that the cat gets out much more quickly than the first time, although it still makes some random movements. The third day it gets out still more quickly, and before long it goes straight to the latch and lifts it at once. Or you make a model of the Hampton Court maze, and put a rat in the middle, assaulted by the smell of food on the outside. The rat starts running down the passages, and is constantly stopped by blind alleys, but at last, by persistent attempts, it gets out. You repeat this experiment day after day; you measure the time taken by the rat in reaching the food; you find that the time rapidly diminishes, and that after a while the rat ceases to make any wrong turnings. It is by essentially similar processes that we learn speaking, writing, mathematics, or the government of an empire.

DFSS Tools & GB Project

Organizations that believe in the Six Sigma paradigm, pursue the DFSS methodology religiously. Trainings are imparted, & the teams are GB certified. Is there an adequate understanding of the importance of DFSS, & the relevance of their tools. Here is a brief on what I learnt from that exercise

One of the most important learning's of the whole process is the importance of team work. All the activities revolve around Team work. 

Each of the tools revolve around this central theme to achieve a collective synergy.

When we used the SIPOC, we were able to figure out who are the concerned stakeholders? What did each of the stakeholder bring to the table. (inputs) and what were there expectations (outputs), what are the possible ways to transform these inputs to outputs (processes)

Since it is done in a team it ensures that all of the stakeholders inputs and their respective expectations are considered

When we used the TPM it ensured that all participants thoughts about the problem  are captured. There was a lot of tacit knowledge

At individual levels, Aspects that certain individuals were aware of, and some were not. Thus knowledge was shared (and captured) concerns  raised were addressed (through action items with assigned responsibilities & dates). Thus at the end of the exercise the collectively had enough information & were on the same page.

When we did an RCA as a Team, it ensured that we looked at the problem from different dimensions. It is true that as individuals we may not have adequate information on all dimensions (6M) of the problem. But collectively as a team we were able to get a broader perspective on the root causes

Again when the team did an FMEA, each of us had our own opinion on what could fail and what the impact would be. All of which were captured. Collectively we were able to decide on the probability / severity of each of these. We were able to come up with some good ideas on how to mitigate them effectively.

Other then the above ones we did use the QFD, C&E, Pareto, Pugh Matrix etc… As individuals each one of us has his own opinion on what is important, relevant, of priority etc. In a team sometimes few individuals and their ideas dominate. To Arrest such possibilities these tools helped us to Quantitatively figure out what was important, relevant, of priority and vital.      

Now does this ensure that we reach six sigma levels of quality? Definitely not.

However what it does ensure is that "you have taken into consideration all stakeholders requirements, considered various alternatives at each stage of the project, made the right choices or taken optimum decisions, not just as individuals, but collectively as a team. Thus minimizing the possibilities of making mistakes".

What if I start my own enterprise?

What if I start my own MNC, how would it be?

There are 38 million businesses in the U.S. alone that have less than 10 employees. Wow... what about APAC & EMEA ? That’s a substantial number. Hmmm Think about it .... do you see any opportunitiies…

there are dozens of travel sites each claiming that they have the lowest Air fares & hotel rentals, largest no. of destinations listed. ....do you see any opportunity around travel .... I do :-)

Organizations have processes through which they communicate between stakeholders to accomplish tasks. There is opportunity there ... did you spot it? Think workflow …. :-)

Is there an opportunity in bringing the investors, managers and the nerds together You will ofcourse also need the marketing folks ...now that would be a winning formula

....
I would probably call my enterprise an MNC… why?  Simple….motto is Mentor good people Nurture good ideas Create sustainable future

De Bono's DATT Techniques

Direct Attention Thinking Tools (DATT)™

We’ve all said it. Too much to do, too little time. But what if you could really focus. Cut out all the distractions and funnel your thoughts until you drill down to the right action? Think how much more you could accomplish. DATT gives you 10 simple strategies for sharpening your perception and focusing your thinking in a more comprehensive, effective and efficient way. DATT will enable you to have a broad and inclusive viewpoint. The tools create a framework for defining a situation. That framework will improve your ability to consider consequences before you take action.

Our modern lives - both business and personal - are very fast paced and full of action. We often confuse action with accomplishment and frequently jump to action without enough thought. We love to take action and see what happens - if it’s good, we keep going; if it’s bad, we stop and clean up the mess we have created. Sure, it’s better than doing nothing at all but it’s inefficient at best and costly at its worst.

Tool 1 -- Consequences and Sequels - Look ahead to see the consequences of an action, plan, decision, or rule.

Tool 2 -- Plus, Minus, Interesting - Ensure that all sides of a matter have been considered before a decision or commitment is made.

Tool 3 -- Recognize, Analyze, Divide - Break a larger concept into smaller, more manageable parts.

Tool 4 -- Consider All Factors - Explore all factors related to an action, decision, plan, judgment, or conclusion.

Tool 5 -- Aims, Goals, Objectives - Focus directly and deliberately on the intentions behind actions.

Tool 6 -- Alternatives, Possibilities, Choices - Deliberately try to find other ways.

Tool 7 -- Other People’s Views - Put yourself in others’ shoes.

Tool 8 -- Key Values Involved - Ensure that your thinking serves your values.

Tool 9 -- First Important Priorities - Select the most important ideas, factors, objectives, consequences, etc.

Tool 10 -- Design/Decision, Outcome, Channels, Action - Direct attention to the outcome of the thinking and action that follows.

For More on DATT - http://www.debonothinkingsystems.com/

Project Metrics

Metrics Based Management is something that is followed by most organizations. But how effective are these organizational metrics, or for that matter are the numbers collected at the project levels realistic. In my opinion these numbers are skewed to a very large extent.  These numbers could end up being rigged all along to make it more pleasant or in line with expectations. Alternatively lack of adequate knowledge or a conviction with regards to these measurements, at the bottom of the pyramid has further impaired the quality and dependability of these numbers.

What is the solution?

To begin with we need to understand that just as any two humans are dissimilar, two projects are different. Hence, how they are measured may also differ. So it is imperative that project team decides on what to measure, when to measure, & how to measure? Offcource before all of that, they need to have a shared understanding of why they need to measure.

That’s right. The Need for measurement, consider ourselves, are we better off today than we were yesterday? We all do know that we are better off, but how do we convince others about it? We might say we are earning more today than what we were earning yesterday, or we are more contended today with our lives when compared to the past. We generally demonstrate to the society our state of well being by some form of materialistic gains, or the society judges our wellbeing by some form of tangible gains and losses.

Similarly, we need some tangible measurements to show progress in projects over a period of time.Now, here are a few ideas to start working towards a meaningful measure for your project. This approach is a combination of the GQM (Goal-Question-Metric) Method and the Balanced Scorecard approach.

List down the goals of your project, Are they SMART enough? (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely) For each Goal list down the strategies to fulfill the Goal, Next for each of the strategies list down the specific tasks that need to be performed, now for each task, ask the question how would you know when the task is completed? That is what you would be measuring or would be your scale of measurement. This is called the GQM Method. (this is my own interpretation, so I have simplified it for my own understanding)

Let us next look at the Balanced Scorecard Approach, Consider you are a member of a team currently involved in a project. How do you know that you are perfroming well? Let us suppose that the Performance needs to be evaluated every month,

In the past one month (or period under consideration)
a. What did we do? (Towards meeting the project goals)
b.How did we do it? (Did we improve on the way we do things?)
c.What did we learn? (Did we increase our ability to do similar tasks?)
d.What obstacles are we facing? (What Risks do we percieve? How do we mitigate them?)

On each of these questions above, get the views of the team, management & customer. Here we are trying to evaluate holistically from different viewpoints rather than just evaluating the deliverables. (As i said, this is my own interpretation…:-)  grossly simplified ... )

Within your project you could use both of these techniques to derive some meaningful measures.A good understanding among the Team about the need for measurement, would go a long way in improving the measurement process

Principles of UI Design

These are the most important principles of good UI Design

Access: "Good systems are usable--without help or instruction--by a user having knowledge and experience in the application domain but no experience with the system."

Efficacy: "Good systems do not interfere with or impede efficient use by a skilled user having substantial experience with the system."

Progression: “Good systems facilitate continuous advancement in knowledge, skill, and facility and accommodate progressive change in usage as the user gains experience with the system."

Support: “Good systems support the real work that users are trying to accomplish, making it easier, simpler, faster, or more fun.”

Context: “Good systems are suited to the conditions and environment of the actual operational context within which they are deployed.”

Visibility: Keep all needed options and materials for a given task visible without distracting the user with extraneous or redundant information. Instead of WYSIWYG, use WYSIWYN: What-You-See-Is-What-You-Need.

Feedback: Keep users informed of actions or interpretations, changes of state or condition, and errors or exceptions using clear, concise, and unambiguous language familiar to users.

Structure: Organize the user interface purposefully, in meaningful and useful ways that put related things together and separate unrelated things based on clear, consistent models that are apparent and recognizable to users.

Reuse: Reduce the need for users to rethink and remember by reusing internal and external components and behaviors, maintaining consistency with purpose rather than merely arbitrary consistency.

Tolerance: Be flexible and tolerant, preventing errors where possible by tolerating varied inputs and sequences and by interpreting all reasonable actions reasonably; reduce the cost of mistakes and misuse by allowing undoing and redoing.

Simplicity: Make simple, common tasks simple to do, communicating straightforwardly in the user's own language and providing good shortcuts that are meaningfully related to longer procedures.

Source: Web

Success Strategies

"Peter Leerskov" Reviews the book  The first 90 days by Michael Watkins (from Amazon customer reviews)

The book outlines ten strategies that will shorten the time it takes you to reach what Watkins calls the breakeven point: the point at which your organization needs you as much as you need the job. Here they are ... the ten strategies:

1. PROMOTE YOURSELF. Make a mental break from your old job. Prepare to take charge in the new one. Don't assume that what has made you successful so far will continue to do so. The dangers of sticking with what you know, working hard at doing it, and failing miserably are very real.

2. ACCELERATE YOUR LEARNING. Climb the learning curve as fast as you can in your new organization. Understand markets, products, technologies, systems, and structures, as well as its culture and politics. It feels like drinking from a fire hose. So you have to be systematic and focused about deciding what you need to learn.

3. MATCH STRATEGY TO SITUATION. There are no universal rules for success in transitions. You need to diagnose the business situation accurately and clarify its challenges and opportunities. The author identifies four very different situations: launching a start-up, leading a turnaround, devising a realignment, and sustaining a high-performing unit. You need to know what your unique situation looks like before you develop your action plan.

4. SECURE EARLY WINS. Early victories build your credibility and create momentum. They create virtuous cycles that leverage organizational energy. In the first few weeks, you need to identify opportunities to build personal credibility. In the first 90 days, you need to identify ways to create value and improve business results.

5. NEGOTIATE SUCCESS. You need to figure out how to build a productive working relationship with your new boss and manage his or her expectations. No other relationship is more important. This means having a series of critical talks about the situation, expectations, style, resources, and your personal development. Crucially, it means developing and gaining consensus on your 90-day plan.

6. ACHIEVE ALIGNMENT. The higher you rise in an organization, the more you have to play the role of organizational architect. This means figuring out whether the organization's strategy is sound, bringing its structure into alignment with its strategy, and developing the systems and skills bases necessary to realize strategic intent.

7. BUILD YOUR TEAM. If you are inheriting a team, you will need to evaluate its members. Perhaps you need to restructure it to better meet demands of the situation. Your willingness to make tough early personnel calls and your capacity to select the right people for the right positions are among the most important drivers of success during your transition.

8. CREATE COALITIONS. Your success will depend on your ability to influence people outside your direct line of control. Supportive alliances, both internal and external, will be necessary to achieve your goals.

9. KEEP YOUR BALANCE. The risks of losing perspective, getting isolated, and making bad calls are ever present during transitions. The right advice-and-counsel network is an indispensable resource

10. EXPEDITE EVERYONE. Finally, you need to help everyone else - direct reports, bosses, and peers - accelerate their own transitions. The quicker you can get your new direct reports up to speed, the more you will help your own performance.