Organizing Requirements Design Patterns

In my previous blog post: Never Solve the Same Problem Twice, I introduced the concept of a Requirements Design Pattern, and explained how it could benefit an organization to document a series of requirements for intended reuse on future engagements.  This post will explore some ways to manage these patterns within the organization, and will describe some of the tools that can be used to achieve this goal.

As an organization grows, and its use of Requirements Design Patterns matures, its quite common to be faced with a large amount of patterns with uncertain contents.  To address this concern, it is recommended to designate a single contact or team of contacts as a Pattern Manager or Pattern Management Team.  The decision to select one or several people should depend on the size of the organization.  Typically, the person or persons fulfilling this role are experienced Business Analysts within the company and are familiar with addressing the challenges of managing requirements across multiple projects.

The Pattern Manager or Pattern Management Team typically manages a Requirements Design Pattern Library, which is a central repository where all Design Patterns are stored.  The team also maintains an index, typically in the form of a spreadsheet or internal Wiki, which contains  the pattern ID, Name, Hyperlink to the Pattern, Version, and Description of the Pattern.  The index is the “go-to reference” for Business Analysts within the Enterprise, and provides a straightforward way to review pattern contributions.  As patterns are identified and created on individual projects, they can be submitted to the Pattern Manager or Pattern Management Team for review, and inclusion in both the Library and Index.

Depending on the size of the Enterprise, a variety of tools may be available for maintaining Requirements Design Patterns.  A solution such as Microsoft SharePoint can version patterns automatically, is offered by a number of storage hosts on the Internet, or can be hosted internally.  Cloud-based solutions such as Google Docs, or Dropbox can also accomplish pattern management.  For organizations that utilize internal wikis, it is fairly simple to build out a series of pages to facilitate pattern management.  Even if these tools are not available, pattern management could be accomplished by way of something as simple as a folder on a shared network drive.

With a total picture of Requirements Design Patterns now in mind, consider it a challenge to explore the benefits of deploying such patterns today in your Enterprise.  We strongly believe that such an approach can save your teams time, and improve overall requirements quality, which should ultimately result in a positive impact on both your project delivery schedules and bottom line.

About the Author

Chris Staufer is a Sr. Visualization Analyst with OneSpring. When he’s not developing innovative ways to document requirements for federal and corporate customers, he enjoys practicing martial arts and spending quality time with his wife. Chris lives in Atlanta.

So What’s This iRD Thing Anyway?

We’re working hard to overcome the status quo in software requirements. I truly believe there are many out there that have resigned themselves to just having to “deal with” the challenges of ambiguous requirements, slipping deadlines, reduced feature sets, and the like. There are reams of documentation that is expected to be read, understood, and approved.

Most of the time, the project team needs to seek this documentation from a central repository, such as SharePoint. While all the documentation may be there, it’s often left to each team member to determine what needs to be downloaded and read. Documents that support other documents are referenced, but the team member is left with the daunting task of trying to keep it all together.

What if there was one “document” that provided all of the information stakeholders needed? What if this document was delivered on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet or e-reader that could be taken anywhere? What if stakeholders, development, QA and others had a customized version with just the documentation they needed? What if the documentation was interactive with software visualizations, walkthrough videos, and collaboration?

Introducing the iRD™ or Interactive Requirements Document™.

Instead of disparate Word & Excel documents, Visio diagrams and other document types uploaded to some sort of repository, the iRD encapsulates everything in a very easy-to-use and very portable format that is targeted to each set of stakeholders. Because no two projects are exactly alike, the iRD is customized for the client, the project and the technology the iRD will be used with.

For example, we are currently delivering an iRD™ for the Department of Homeland Security which will be delivered via Apple iPads. Stakeholders will be able to view and comment on all project documentation, experience a high fidelity visualization of their software, watch walkthrough videos and much more all within a single experience. They will be able to take the entire project with them wherever they go. The feedback so far is nothing short of amazing.

Why settle for the status quo on your next project?

Your next project has a 72% chance of failure. Here is how to avoid it.

According to the leading industry analysts, approximately 72% of projects failed in 2010 due to mis-understood requirements and objectives. This number has increased from prior years due the ever-growing complexity of software applications. Even with a plethora of tools to choose from, our industry still hasn’t figured out a way to define and deliver projects successfully – every time. At OneSpring, we believe it’s more about the talent of our people and the approach we take than the tools we employ. As one of my colleagues aptly put it, “just because you have a paint brush in your hands doesn’t make you Monet”. So, what if you could ensure every feature and function of your next software project would be a hit with your end-customer and project stakeholders? This is possible, and it is completely within reach to you and your team – today.

Eliminate failed projects by first rapidly visualizing your project to gain clarity and acceptance before committing time, money and IT resources to building the wrong project. Whether your company is creating a new project from scratch, redesigning an existing project or even adding new features in an enhancement project, ambiguity is the number-one threat to your project failing. While there are a number of software development methodologies and techniques in use today, they still fall short in being able to effectively communicate the requirements of a project clearly. For example, common techniques such as Use-Cases, Sequence Diagrams, UML and even Wireframes that are used today by corporations across every industry still lack the ability for you and your stakeholders to truly interact with and see your requirements in action. In short, your project requirements cannot be fully understood unless they can be experienced. A fully interactive simulation of your requirements gives you, your team and your customer the ability to experience your future state application before it is built. Traditionally, creating a prototype of the product has been an optimal solution for testing, feedback and requirements validation purposes. However, it is typically cost-prohibitive to engage large teams of Information Technology (IT) staff to create code-based prototypes for every project. Previsualization is a modern method for prototyping that typically takes one-third of the time and budget previously spent on prototyping to accomplish with the same beneficial results. In some instances, the savings are even greater.

Previsualization was originally created in the motion picture industry as a means for film makers to quickly and cost-effectively plan each shot of their movie. Using a lower resolution version of the picture, the film’s director and other key players could easily envision each scene and make changes until they had refined it to a perfect scene. Then, once perfectly planned, the crew would produce the high-resolution version for use in the final film. This method proved to be so successful at saving time and production costs that previsualization is required on virtually all films made today. Even those working on the “small screen” of television have begun to use previsualization as a way to cut costs and improve end products.

OneSpring has brought the technique of previsualization to the software industry. Piggy-backing off lessons learned in the entertainment world, OneSpring has developed a unique process that combines low-resolution interactive models with feature-level requirements and traceability into a “movie” that everyone on your team can easily view and understand. Equally important, if changes are needed, then the previsualization of your application can be rapidly updated until the desired results are achieved. This approach provides a highly efficient and effective means of working through multiple iterations until all stakeholders understand, validate and ultimately approve the application’s requirements.

With cost savings typically over 50%, OneSpring has allowed companies to elicit, capture, manage and deliver their application requirements faster and more efficiently, allowing them to better determine customer acceptance of their software application projects before committing to costly development. Previsualization now provides a competitive advantage that can help your company best address your customers’ needs and the goals of your business and ensure success.

Common Software Tools for Business Analysts

Recently I read a LinkedIn IIBA blog post titled “Putting Together a List of BA Tools”.  As I read the blog, I quickly became fascinated by the quantity of tools that BA’s around the world use to conduct their day-to-day work.  Granted, the blog is not a scientific survey and there was not an equal representation across industries, but I wanted to share some of the numbers I crunched from the blog posts (data as of 02/28/2011):

• Number of Blog Responses: 70
• Number of Unique Industries Represented: 16
• Number of BA Tools/Products Recommended: 47
• Top 10 BA Tools/Products In Use (in order of frequency):
  • MS Visio
  • Enterprise Architect
  • Rational Requisite Pro
  • MS PowerPoint
  • MS Word
  • MS Excel
  • DOORS
  • Balsamiq
  • (tie) Axure, BizAgi, Blueprint Requirements Center, CaseComplete, FreeMind, HP Quality Center, iRise, Mindjet MindManager, MS Access, MS OneNote, Visual Paradigm
• Top 10 Industries That Use the Greatest Number of BA Tools/Products:
  • Management Consulting
  • Software Development
  • IT Outsourcing
  • Financial Services
  • Healthcare
  • Government
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Industry/Energy/Healthcare Technology
  • Insurance
  • Utilities

The quantity of software products represented by this small and unscientific survey of Business Analysts speaks volumes.  It is obvious that there is little standardization, in terms of software tools, within and across industries.  It is also obvious that today’s Analysts must maintain proficiency in a very large number of complicated technologies.  There is a huge opportunity for thought leaders in Requirements Analysis to introduce new products that are (1) quick to learn, (2) effective across industries, and (3) integrate the best attributes and eliminate the worst attributes from the list of products above.

What software products do you use on a daily basis?  Are they ideal for the job or add frustration to your day?

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