Well it is tax time once again and for some folks it is time to think of remodeling your home. Exciting right? It can be… it can also be a maddening roller coaster ride that is difficult to stop. The next thing you know, you have not only spent your tax refund, but you have invested heavily into a credit card (or two). We all know that this can happen and we all know people that have had remodeling horror stories, yet we still forge ahead and remodel. Why? Repairs, reconstruction, and renovation are common themes (needs) that drive us to remodeling. When it comes to your home they completely make sense. Broken things are not fun to live with, we can get bored with the same ol’, same ol’ and the value needs to be kept up while we are waiting for the market to rebound. But what about our requirements – the models we put together that help our stakeholders clearly understand the problem or opportunity we are trying to solve or present? Does remodeling make sense?
Posts Tagged ‘planning and estimating’
The Big Remodel
Posted: February 7th, 2012 by Bob Prentiss. Comments »
A New Year’s Resolution?
Posted: January 23rd, 2012 by Bob Prentiss. Comments »
BobtheBA here and the last time I blogged, we briefly took a look back at 2011. The New Year is a time when people make predictions, resolutions, and plans with the hope of change and improvement. It can be a very exciting time with anticipation to see if the predictions come true, resolutions are met, or if the plans were effective. What resolutions and plans have you made for 2012? I have to tell you though, I am not a big fan of New Year resolutions. More on this shortly.
2011 BobtheBA and A Quick Look Back
Posted: January 9th, 2012 by Bob Prentiss. Comments »
BobtheBA here taking a look back at 2011 before we get too far into 2012 where we will boldly go where BA’s have not gone before! The New Year, a time of renewal and promised change. And generally speaking it is the only time when all creatures on this planet embrace change, but unfortunately not in a sustained fashion (more on this in my next blog as we look forward to 2012). For now let’s take a brief look back at 2011 from the world we live in to the world we work in. There was much to celebrate, mourn and marvel at. Was it a good year for you?
My B.A. Holiday Wish List for You
Posted: November 15th, 2011 by Bob Prentiss. 2 Comments »
Hello there – BobtheBA here wishing you fantastic Holidays in advance. Yes, it really is that time of the year again! Where did the time go? Seems like yesterday when 2011 was full of plans, promise and new projects. Now, with less than 7 weeks to go everyone will be busy cramming (whoops – I meant implementing) projects and of course focused on family and friends during the Holiday(s) of your choice. So whatever you are celebrating be it Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas, Boxing Day, Kwanza, New Years, or something else, I thought I would share my B.A. Holiday Wish List for you. Many of you may not know (my students and some of my colleagues do) that I am actually the Santa Claus of Business Analysis. That’s right, I will know if your requirements have been naughty or nice so here are my top 5 things I wish for you during the Holidays (to remain on the nice list of course).
Training for Project Closure
Posted: November 8th, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »
I ran my first triathlon this past summer. My biggest concern going into the race was how I was going to hold up toward the end. Running is the last of the three events, and the one about which I was least confident. I wondered if I would be able to finish that last mile or if I would simply be so exhausted that I would not make it across the finish line. As it turns out, I was so invigorated by the experience and so excited about completing the race that the closer I got, the easier it actually became as I moved toward the finish line.
Who Owns Project Success or Failure?
Posted: October 18th, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »
Recently, a project management colleague was expressing frustration with her inability to get a project moving in a constructive direction. She commented that she knew the success of the project was her responsibility, but she felt hamstrung in her ability to get what she needed from people. Even simple requests for information from external stakeholders went unanswered and resulted in project inertia.
I hear this from project managers on a regular basis and it always brings me back to one of the truisms in project management: The project manager is responsible for project success.
Things We Know and Things We Don’t
Posted: September 27th, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »
On every project there are things we know and things we don’t know – Knowns and Unknowns. Organizing your thoughts around those concepts can be a constructive approach to understanding a project as shown in the matrix.
The Known Knowns you handle via the plan, but what about those various flavors of Unknowns? How do you normally account for those things in the project? Often it’s with padding – estimates that include unidentified amounts of time and/or money just in case.
On day 1, we look great. It’s day 2 that kills us!
Posted: March 22nd, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »
I heard this from a project team member in a training class recently. He was referring to the schedules for the projects he works on. What he was getting at was that the team really doesn’t have a chance from the get-go. They are behind on projects before they even begin, and it doesn’t take long for that to be evident.
Why do we do this to ourselves?
Project managers know they should be getting input from the team on planning and the estimates for their work. And they often do. It’s what happens after that that’s problematic – namely, the input is ignored.
A Heavyweight Fight–Scrum vs. Waterfall: Estimating Part 1
Posted: May 7th, 2010 by ElizabethLarson. Comments »
I think people like a good fight. Certainly the media seems to, not only in the world of politics, but also in the worlds of sports and entertainment to name a few. In the world of business analysis the current fight seems to pit Agile methods against the Waterfall approach. For the next several blogs we’ll have a Scrum vs. Waterfall match. In corner #1, representing the Agile methods, we have the Scrum framework. In corner #2, representing Waterfall, we have the “traditionalists.”
Round One
Relative sizing of user stories (Scrum)
