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© 2014 Tom Grant
Requirements on the verge
of a nervous breakdownTom Grant
Senior Consultant
Agile 2014
© 2011 Israel Gat
© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 3
© 2011 Israel Gat
© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 4
100% of ALM
assessments
uncover
serious
problems
that start in
requirements
© 2011 Israel Gat 5
Stakeholders want more from their
© 2011 Israel Gat
© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 6
“Which of the following technology
inititiatives are you asking IT to prioritize over
the next 12 months?”0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Improve the use of data and analytics to improve business
decisions and outcomes
Improve IT project delivery performance
Develop new skills to better support emerging technologies and
business innovation
Help the organization better manage and integrate its partners
and suppliers
Improve IT budget performance
High priority
Critical priority
Base: 3,616 business decision-makers world-wide.
Source: Forrsights Business Decision-Makers Survey Q4 2012
Business needs results from software investments.
Right now.
© 2011 Israel Gat
© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 7
“For each pair of statements, which best describes your firm?”
Base: 3,616 business decision-makers world-wide.
Source: Forrsights Business Decision-Makers Survey Q4 2012
Our business environment/industry
is stable / Our business
environment/industry is rapidly
changing
19% 32% 49%
Stable Industry Changing
Business processes are consistent
across groups / Business processes
are diverse across groups
22% 35% 43%
Consistent Neutral Diverse
Not just any software will do.
© 2014 Tom Grant
“How would you rate the quality of your team’s working
relationship with other parts of your company?”
0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% 80.0%
Testing/QA
Other development teams
IT operations
Product management
Business users
Support/help desk
Executive management
Business analysts
Business unit managers
Enterprise architecture
Security/risk management
Marketing
Program/portfolio management …
4
5 (Very good)
Base: 1,614 software development professionals.
Source: Forrester Q4 2012 Developer Survey
Software professionals don’t have a great affinity with the business.
© 2011 Israel Gat
Requirements need attention right now
Source: Q1 2011 Global Application Development & Delivery Organization
Structure Online Survey; Getty Images (http://www.gettyimages.com)
Improving requirements cited more frequently (66%) than any other area needing attention
© 2011 Israel Gat
© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 10
Agile has accelerated this crisis
Can requirements
keep pace with
Agile?
© 2011 Israel Gat
© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 11
AGILE PRACTICES
IN THE DEV TEAM
CONTINUOUS
DELIVERY
DEVOPS
REQUIREMENTS
© 2011 Israel Gat
Requirements often slow Agile teams
WATER SCRUM FALL
© 2011 Israel Gat
© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 13
How do we avoid a breakdown?
© 2011 Israel Gat
© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 14
1. Requirements must define value
2. Build better requirements toolkits
3. Find the right cadence
4. Ask more of requirements professionals
© 2011 Israel Gat
REQUIREMENTS MUST DEFINE
VALUE
© 2011 Israel Gat
We build software for people unlike us
© 2011 Israel Gat
© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 17
Requirements explain value
› How software helps business outcomes
› What elements make it less helpful
› Why users adopt
› How users adopt
© 2011 Israel Gat
We need more regular feedback
© 2011 Israel Gat
Design thinking and visualization accelerate
feedback
© 2011 Israel Gat
© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 20
We need better insights
© 2011 Israel Gat
© 2011 Israel Gat
Change the conversation
Android app for activity management
Custom pipeline stages
More complex lead-scoring options
More canned reports
Define and manage teams
Easy clean-up of bad or duplicate data
Activity entry via email
Associate teams with prospects
$5,000
$2,000
$3,500
$1,500
$4,750
$2,500
$3,250
$1,250
FEATURE COST-
$500
-
$300
$2,000
$2,500
-
-
SPENT
© 2011 Israel Gat
WE NEED BETTER
REQUIREMENTS TOOLKITS
© 2011 Israel Gat
© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 24
Themes?
Epics?
Use
cases?
User
experience?
Visualization?
© 2011 Israel Gat
Requirements aren’t simple
Actionable
Contextual
Descriptive
What is the
customer
asking for?
How
should we
meet the
customer’s
request?
What is the customer really
asking for?
© 2011 Israel Gat
Actionable
Contextual
Descriptive
Translation is necessary
© 2011 Israel Gat
Requirements are a toolkit
Actionable
Contextual
Descriptive
User
stories
Personas, use
cases, busine
ss problems
Themes, e
pics
Enhancem
ent
requests, c
hange
requests, i
deas
Traditional
requiremen
ts
© 2011 Israel Gat
© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 28
The toolkit must evolve
Faster feedback
More reliable
feedback
Faster translation
Better
communication
Greater re-use
Visualizations, pr
ototypes, storyb
oardsRequirements
tools
Faster
requirements
development
Better planning
Epics, themes
Serious games
Video/audio
interviews
CHALLENGES TECHNIQUES
© 2011 Israel Gat
© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 29
The toolkit must evolve
Faster feedback
More reliable
feedback
Faster translation
Better
communication
Greater re-use
Visualizations, pr
ototypes, storyb
oardsRequirements
tools
Faster
requirements
development
Better planning
Epics, themes
Serious games
Video/audio
interviews
© 2011 Israel Gat
© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 30
Epics
Themes
Release
planning
Bu
sin
ess v
alu
e
Resourcing
© 2011 Israel Gat
Contextual information is crucial
DECISIONS
DESIGNREST OF
THE VALUE
STREAM
CUSTOMER
CONVERSATIONS
© 2011 Israel Gat
FIND THE RIGHT CADENCE
© 2011 Israel Gat
LONG-TERM
MEDIUM-TERM
SHORT-TERM
Entire project/product timeline (years)
Next user-relevant landmark (months)
Next dev-relevant
landmark (weeks)
© 2011 Israel Gat
When do we need the requirements? (examples)
LongProject/product
planInitial backlog Personas
Descriptive Actionable Contextual
MediumRe-prioritized
backlogThemes/epics Use cases
ShortUser stories
(prioritization)User stories
(design)User feedback
© 2011 Israel Gat
“Just in time” requirements take skill
Cultivate the right sources
Identify the right source to
answer the question
Triangulate using multiple
sources
Deliver the actionable and
contextual content that
people need
© 2011 Israel Gat
ASK MORE OF REQUIREMENTS
PROFESSIONALS
© 2011 Israel Gat
More skills and experiences needed
Actionable
Contextual
Descriptive
ECONOMICS
COMPUTER
SCIENCE
ANTHROPOLOGY
© 2011 Israel Gat
We need negotiators, not order takers
© 2011 Israel Gat
The BA job must change
Old BA World New BA World
• Order takers • Business partners
• Everything must be on the list • It’s on the list if it provides
mutual value
• Projects • Products
• Focus on documentation • Focus on information
• Requirements as a weapon •Requirements as a resource
© 2011 Israel Gat
BAs need support and investment
The top 5 challenges for both product managers and
business analysts are soft skills.
Product managers and business analysts say that soft skills are more important than
technical domain knowledge.
© 2011 Israel Gat
HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU’VE
IMPROVED?
© 2011 Israel Gat
How do you know you’re doing well?
If you treat requirements
as a . . .
Necessity
Catalyst
Asset
You might find yourself saying . . .
“Thank God that’s done. Now, on to coding!”
“Wow, that new persona made me rethink our
app.”
“When was the last time we looked at those user
stories?”
And you’ll share them with . . .
Just the development team.
The next person you’re trying to convince.
Everyone, in a format that makes sense to them.
© 2011 Israel Gat
How do you know you’re doing well?
QUALITATIVE
QUANTITATIVE
Ask the community.
Call “go to” users or
stakeholders.
Review personas, use
cases, other existing
content.
Collect usage stats.
Do a quick poll.
Analyze data from public sources
(blogs, communities, etc.).
Answer a question in less than a day.
© 2011 Tom Grant
SLIDE ARCHIVE
44
© 2011 Tom Grant
Software professionals are better inventors than innovators
© 2011 Tom Grant
Many problems that start in requirements
Many sources of problems
• Little or no business justification
• Wrong prioritization
• Mistaken design choices
• Insufficient functionality delivered
• Too much functionality delivered
All boil down to some familiar measures of failure
• Re-engineering, business/IT misalignment, etc.
© 2011 Tom Grant
Business problems putting stress on requirements
Requirements tools are one of the most rapidly-evolving parts of the ALM market
© 2011 Tom Grant
But wait…Wasn’t Agile supposed to fix
everything?
Even though Agile is
certainly mainstream
(39%+ of teams), the
voice of the customer
is frequently not heard
or understood
Agile is a set of powerful, effective team-level practices for software development.
It is not a silver bullet for every problem.
© 2011 Tom Grant
It’s easy to lose track of the customer
© 2011 Tom Grant
It’s easy to lose track of the customer
© 2011 Tom Grant
It’s easy to lose track of the customer
© 2011 Tom Grant
How do we fix this situation?
Make the information more accurate
Make the information more timely
Make the insights more profound
Make the information load lighter
© 2011 Tom Grant
© 2009 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Accurate
© 2011 Tom Grant
Feedback loops? Really?
© 2011 Tom Grant
Eating your own dog food is not enough
Because you’re not a dog
© 2011 Tom Grant
Waterfall trained us to be fatalistic about
requirements
© 2011 Tom Grant
Design thinking and visualization accelerate
feedback
Push design earlier in the process.
Push feedback earlier in the process.
© 2011 Tom Grant
Feedback is fine, but…
Do we know in advance the right
questions to pose?
© 2011 Tom Grant
Requirements aren’t simple
Actionable
Contextual
Descriptive
What is the
customer
asking for?
How
should we
meet the
customer’s
request?
What is the customer really
asking for?
© 2011 Tom Grant
Requirements are necessary
We get
through this
as quickly as
possible…
…So that we
can get on
with this
Actionable
Contextual
Descriptive
© 2011 Tom Grant
Actionable
Contextual
Descriptive
Requirements are an exercise in translation
© 2011 Tom Grant
Actionable
Contextual
Descriptive
Requirements are a toolkit
User
stories
Personas, use
cases, busine
ss problems
Themes, e
pics
Enhancem
ent
requests, c
hange
requests, i
deas
Traditional
requiremen
ts
© 2011 Tom Grant
Contextual information is crucial
Contextual information improves
decision-making
– Reduces the number of options
under consideration
– Leads to better design decisions
– Improves communication with
customers
© 2011 Tom Grant
Contextual information lost at every toss
BUSINESS
ANALYST
“Here’s the actionable
requirement”
DEVELOPER
“What should the software do?
Within what parameters for
security, performance, etc.?”
TESTER
“Out of all the tests I might
do, which represent the software as
someone will actually use it?”
UX DESIGNER
“What sort of user experience
does the user expect? What
would really win them over?”
© 2011 Tom Grant
But accuracy isn’t everything
Accuracy is fine, but we do need to get on with the work.
© 2011 Tom Grant
© 2009 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Timely
© 2011 Tom Grant
Requirements can slow Agile teams
WATER SCRUM FALL
© 2011 Tom Grant
When do we need the requirements, really?
LONG-TERM
MEDIUM-TERM
SHORT-TERM
Entire project/product timeline (years)
Next user-relevant landmark (months)
Next dev-relevant
landmark (weeks)
© 2011 Tom Grant
When do we need the requirements? (examples)
LongProject/product
planInitial backlog Personas
Descriptive Actionable Contextual
MediumRe-prioritized
backlogThemes/epics Use cases
ShortUser stories
(prioritization)User stories
(design)User feedback
© 2011 Tom Grant
Requirements structure and process needs
changing
Requirements toolkit, not requirements template
Requirements pipeline, not a requirements bus
Requirements retrospection, not “fire and forget”
Business analysts and product owners who make
decisions, not order-takers
© 2011 Tom Grant
But timeliness is not enough
Velocity
is down
here
© 2011 Tom Grant
© 2009 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Profound
© 2011 Tom Grant
Are we having the best possible conversations?
One-on-one negotiations between the business faction and the IT faction are hardly optimal
© 2011 Tom Grant
© 2011 Tom Grant
INPUT: Change the rules with serious games
Structured
• Rules, but often no winners
Purposeful
• Definite outcome
Time-bound
• By definition, a time-boxed
exercise
Participatory
• Success depends on
everyone participating.
Egalitarian
• Everyone has an equal
opportunity to participate.
© 2011 Tom Grant
What sort of serious games?
Structured, game-like activities with collective outcomes
© 2011 Tom Grant
EXAMPLE: Product box
© 2011 Tom Grant
EXAMPLE: Buy a feature
Android app for activity management
Custom pipeline stages
More complex lead-scoring options
More canned reports
Define and manage teams
Easy clean-up of bad or duplicate data
Activity entry via email
Associate teams with prospects
$5,000
$2,000
$3,500
$1,500
$4,750
$2,500
$3,250
$1,250
FEATURE COST-
$500
-
$300
$2,000
$2,500
-
-
SPENT
© 2011 Tom Grant
Serious games change the conversation
Let the users wrangle with each other, instead of with you
© 2011 Tom Grant
Insight isn’t enough
Remember Agile? Lean?
© 2011 Tom Grant
© 2009 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Light-weight
© 2011 Tom Grant
We just made the job of requirements a lot harder
© 2011 Tom Grant
More skills and experiences needed
ECONOMICS
COMPUTER
SCIENCE
ANTHROPOLOGY
Actionable
Contextual
Descriptive
© 2011 Tom Grant
BAs need support and mentorship
The top 5 challenges for both product managers
and business analysts are soft
skills.
When polled, product managers
and business analysts say that
soft skills are more important than
technical domain knowledge.
© 2011 Tom Grant
The top priority for PMs: requirements, over time
Source: Pragmatic Marketing survey
of product managers, 2010-2011.
© 2011 Tom Grant
Agile ratchets up the pressure on BAs
Wa
ste
Business analyst
Wa
ste
Time
Documentation
Solution
Has a problem Provides a solution
The business Development team
© 2011 Tom Grant
The BA job must change
Old BA World New BA World
• Order takers • Business partners
• Everything must be on the list • It’s on the list if it provides mutual
value
• Projects • Products
• Focus on documentation • Focus on information
• Requirements as a weapon • Requirements as a resource
We need someone to make smart decisions. And we need them now.
© 2011 Tom Grant
If you want real super-heroes…
Give the people who do requirements responsibility AND authority
© 2011 Tom Grant
Authority means that you can say…
© 2011 Tom Grant
We need BAs to be business innovation aces
Possesses good research skills
Knows how to get reliable answers
quickly
Builds “just in time” requirements
Understands technical feasibility
Helps customers shape requirements
Has decision-making power
Turns requirements into an asset
© 2011 Tom Grant
“Just in time” requirements take skill, resources
Cultivate the right sources
• EX: Business users, social
media, past requirements, etc.
etc.
Identify the right source to
answer the question
• EX: Do we need insight or
validation?
Triangulate using multiple
sources
• EX: One source provides
depth, another ensures that
the answer is representative
Deliver the actionable and
contextual content that people
© 2011 Tom Grant
“With great power comes great responsibility”
Measure and reward adoption, or some other positive outcome
© 2011 Tom Grant
People downstream need better requirements, too
WATER SCRUM FALL
© 2011 Tom Grant
© 2009 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Next steps
© 2011 Tom Grant
How do you know you’re doing well?
If you treat requirements
as a . . .
Necessity
Catalyst
Commodity
You might find yourself saying . . .
“Thank God that’s done. Now, on to coding!”
“Wow, that new persona made me rethink our
app.”
“When was the last time we looked at those user
stories?”
And you’ll share them with . . .
Just the development team.
The next person you’re trying to convince.
Everyone, in a format that makes sense to them.
© 2011 Tom Grant
How do you know you’re doing well?
“The dev team has
a question . . .”QUALITATIVE
QUANTITATIVE
Ask the community.
Call “go to” users or
stakeholders.
Review personas, use
cases, other existing
content.
Collect usage stats.
Do a quick poll.
Analyze data from public sources
(blogs, communities, etc.).
Someone can provide this information in less than a day.
© 2011 Tom Grant
Step 1: Rethink your assumptions
Potential techniques
• The “first hour” test
• Participant-observer
• “Product box” serious
game
© 2011 Tom Grant
Step 2: Engage your customer in new ways
Potential techniques
• Transparent road map
• Required “voice of the customer”
at key intervals
• Visualization
• “Buy A Feature” serious game
© 2011 Tom Grant
Step 3: Measure the value of the results
Accuracy• EX: How much re-work?
Timeliness• EX: How much on time?
Insight• EX: How much down-stream value?
Weight• EX: How much work to acquire?
Source: Getty Images (http://www.gettyimages.com)