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Instantly usable and helpful information for project management, agile/SCRUM, business analysis, IT strategy and compliance and lean – six sigma.
Browsing All posts tagged under »Business«
TAPUniversity’s Online Learning System has moved.
Exciting news. TAPUniversity has partnered with gnomio to launch its learning management system ahead. Additional must-have features include test bank expansion and knowledge sharing tools. An innovator in online project management training since 2006, this partnership ensures our delivery keeps paced with your learning needs! Just click on the TAPUniversity LMS* on the menu to […]
Business Analysis Technique #2 – Benchmarking
May 27, 2011 by Dave Kohrell
Benchmarking is a valid, powerful and concrete way to compare a new system or process to the current, “as-is” state OR to compare multiple systems in a vendor selection process. To ensure each of those adjectives (valid, powerful and concrete) are met here’s some suggestions: Valid – ensure a level playing field in all systems […]
Business Analysis Technique #5 – Data Dictionary and Glossary
May 11, 2011 by Dave Kohrell
Equally at home with Use Case creation, or the earlier generation’s database analysis, Data Dictionaries and Glossaries provide a common place to store and retrieve definitions. They’re used by business and technical roles. The premise is to understand what is needed for a field of data or an entire table or record of data (aka […]
Business Analysis Technique #4 – Business Rules Analysis
April 29, 2011 by Dave Kohrell
Business Rules. Universal definitions or process descriptions that transcend a single use case or process flow. A little bit bigger than a glossary definition (such as income range, gender, ethnicity) but not quite a usage scenario in its own right. Business rules as they’re refined, adapted and updated are invaluable requirements assets – they really […]
How to Find Where New Process is Really Needed
March 31, 2011 by Michiko Quinones
It’s great to learn new models. I LOVE models. I like to think about how they can be applied, and I get excited about both the predictive ability of models and the capacity for goodness that exists when a model is well executed. But I’ve learned that the reality is that you will never be […]
Business Analysis Technique #32 SWOT Analysis
March 22, 2011 by Dave Kohrell
SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) is a venerable mainstay of management and MBA curriculum. While it’s typically applied at the organization level for strategic management, SWOT analysis can be a helpful technique for understanding the business perspective for a set of requirements or a project. It’s described in 9.32 of the BABOK™ A […]
Project Health Check : 5 serious project warning signs
March 19, 2011 by Adrian Reed (UKAdrianReed)
As experienced change practitioners, I’m sure we’ve all worked on projects that have been difficult. The unfortunate truth is that some projects gain so much momentum, they become “too big to fail”. These projects steamroll their way through organizations, and have a tendency to displace anyone that dares to challenge them. Sometimes when working closely […]
Business Analysis Technique #26 – Scenarios and Use Cases
March 2, 2011 by Dave Kohrell
Several years ago I shared a series of articles in the Rational Edge for IBM that showcased real life applications of use cases and incremental development. Two of those articles focused on replacing a legacy unemployment insurance system. The entire article provides a much more thorough introduction from that example – so take a quick […]
Business Analysis Technique #3 – Brainstorming
March 1, 2011 by Dave Kohrell
The whiteboard. The dry eraser. The multi-color pens. The overbearing meeting participant. Those four things often come together when thinking of brainstorming. It’s a technique among multiple management nexus disciplines and at the heart of agile, business analysis and project management. It can produce great results from a team. The Business Analysis Body of Knowledge […]
Lean Startup (for product and software development)
February 21, 2011 by Dave Kohrell
The tenth anniversary of Agile is upon us. We just concluded a 12 part review of the Agile Manifesto. Agile was a software development out to business, innovation. Or it could have been called “geeks to execs”. Now for a fast forward, to today. Emerging trends and practices include those that fuse business, design and […]
Time for a quick celebration – 400 posts!
February 16, 2011 by Dave Kohrell
I wanted to share a little milestone. We reached 400 posts yesterday. Our blog is primarily targeted for education, learning and conversation. While we do need some money to keep the lights on, we try to keep the commercial pitches and “monentization” to a minimum. Thank you everyone who has participated, read and engaged with […]
Agile Principle 12 – Team reflects, tunes and adjusts
February 15, 2011 by Dave Kohrell
The last principle of the Agile Manifesto provides for learning and adjustment by the team. This adjustment allows for continuous process improvement. Teams don’t allow themselves to become stagnant or stale – they change and become better. The manifesto doesn’t proscribe how often and allows some leeway. The definition of “at regular intervals” provides sufficient […]
Your project needs a maverick.
February 14, 2011 by Adrian Reed (UKAdrianReed)
Project teams are complex and it’s essential that the team works together productively to achieve the end goal. Every so often, there will be a ‘project maverick’ that upsets the balance. Perhaps they ignore the plan, or escalate an issue straight to the CEO. Mavericks are often seen as a Project Managers worst nightmare, as […]
Agile Principle 11 – Self Organizing teams produce best architectures, requirements and design
February 14, 2011 by Dave Kohrell
Agile manifesto – principles number 1 – 10 were ones I could embrace or at least accept. And yes I know it’s your 10th birthday this month. But really, number 11 is a difficult one for this control oriented, project management/ manager type to swallow. You’re saying that self-organizing teams can get it done? Yeah […]
Agile Principle 9 – Agility is a result of technical excellence and good design
February 12, 2011 by Dave Kohrell
The ninth principle of agile brings in important aspects of enterprise architecture and system design. Technical excellence is a board term. it can be applied to hardware, software, network infrastructure, process management, project management, programming, release management, etc. I also think of enterprise architecture I hear technical excellence. While Agile is change driven, that does […]
Agile Principle 6 – Face to Face Interaction
February 9, 2011 by Dave Kohrell
Face to face interaction provides for the most effective form of communication. The sixth Agile Manifesto principle advocates face-to-face conversation. A sticking point for adopting Agile is the dominance of virtual teams within an organization and among different organizations (in a vendor – customer relationship or within a supply chain for example). Bringing virtual […]
Agile Principle 4 developers and business working directly together
February 7, 2011 by Dave Kohrell
Unleashing your developer geeks on unsuspecting business people was quite risky in the 1990’s. Why those geeks may be a bit rough, un-kept and may spill the beans (truth). They clearly have not transformed in “McDreamy” yet (Patrick Dempsey). They’re still commuting to work on their lawn mower. Seems a little silly now. The prevailing […]
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October 8, 2011 by Dave Kohrell
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