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Requirements Gathering for BI Initiatives (Cross Post)

Hope you are all having a good holiday break.  I've had some time to write and thought I'd cross-post this blog entry I did over on mip's scan since it is directly related to some exciting things we are doing here at Project X.  Happy reading and I look forward to your thoughts.

I've had a few quiet days with the onset of the holidays and that has given me time to read and write.  It's given me time to think.  About what?  Well, a colleague of mine asked me to think about ways to evolve our approach to capturing requirements and doing analysis for our business intelligence projects.  We have a dedicated group that delivers outstanding EDW and BI initiatives and this colleague wanted me to see what tools/techniques from my advisory services practice could be leveraged in our BI work.  I've been thinking about this since he mentioned it to me late last week and wanted to get some thoughts down to help evolve my thinking.  

via www.mipsscan.com

For the complete post, please click here.  

Listening to Others

I have so many personal biases, I find it very difficult to listen to others without filtering all the information through my biased perception.  Everything somebody says, I quickly make a value judgment on the importance to me and my view on what was said.  I understand this is normal but I think I miss out on many things because they are outside my view.

I like to use the example of looking at a garden.  I may see a beautiful garden.  However if I am familiar with the names of flowers and how difficult it is to grow certain types, I will see many different things.  I am looking at the garden with two different biases.

So in listening to people, if I could focus on the uniqueness of that individual I might hear much more.  Every person sees the world though a unique set of experiences.  Often because I disagree with that person, rather than listen to his point of view I am busy mustering arguments and protecting my view.  I miss so many opportunities to learn new things.

I recall when I was working to get a Master's degree in Adlerian psychology, to qualify for the program I had to take undergraduate psychology courses.  I was an engineer by training and took one industrial psychology course in all my years of study.  As I entered the undergraduate psych courses, I was concerned that I would lose some of the good Adlerian stuff and get corrupted by other ideas.  I quickly changed my approach because I realized I would lose out on such a great opportunity.

Being open to new ideas and different approaches makes life, the universe, and everything much more interesting and fun.

Linking Business and IT

How often does one hear the complaint that the IT group really only cares about technology and not about the business?  If you are talking to an IT person about your business problem, how often is the first question they ask is "What software are you using?"  Now what does that have to do with them understanding your business problem?   However the business often feels very uncomfortable talking about technology at any level.  Communication is blocked.

I expect some of the problem has to do with the insecurity we feel when we are outside our comfort zone.  Also both the business problem and the technology challenges are both stretching us so how can we enter another very challenging area.

So how do will bridge this gap in real ways and stop everybody from hiding behind the jargon.  In IT the jargon is the latest buzz words, like SOA.  In the business it is _____________.  You need to fill that in for your business.

If we did more listening as oppose to talking to cover up our own insecurities, might help.  Do not rush to solve the superficial statement of the problem, say "tell me more."  Then listen, listen, listen.  When one responds try to use the same terminology and avoid jargon.

The Sinatra Test

Can your product or service pass the Sinatra Test?   You know how the song goes "If you can do it there, you can do it anywhere."  

The issue is one of proving credibility of your product or service.  If the most critical customer buy it, it should be good for everybody.  

A reference who is well known critical consumer proves you have passed the Sinatra Test. 

In the data warehousing business, Walmart is one of the leaders and if you can give them as a reference, you have passed the Sinatra Test.

In a recent project a reference from a credible third party, helps us get an important project.  These references are worth their weight in gold.  However you must earn your reference and reputation by doing good work. 

I really like to metaphor and it really sticks with me.  Comments?  

The Curse of Knowledge

Why do we give details and lose the key message in details?   Is it because we know all the details and believe they are key to the understanding of the message?  If people miss the point, the details do not help.  How often when we try to convey a message do we get caught in the details and miss communicating the key message?   Rather than giving the headline we start with all the details.  For communicating an idea, the devil is in the details in a different way.  Often the detail devil hides the message.

In "Made to Stick", he points out assuming people know all the four letter acronymsand launching into all the details, may leave you audience lost.  Knowing all the details and providing them up front, will turn people off before you deliver the key point.   Four letter acronyms can be helpful short hand for people who know the language but you will lose many people in the process.   

If we couch all our ideas with all the details and conditions, our key idea is in danger of getting lost and never gets transmitted.

If a reporter wrote a newspaper article like a mystery story keeping the message till the end, we would never read the newspaper or at least not that news story.  

The reason this is called the Curse of Knowledge is that we know so much about  a subject the overall concept gets lost in the complexity.  To accurately describe an electron as a negativity charged probability cloud revolving around a nucleus would not help a high school student understand a molecule.  However a metaphor of the stars and planets would be more helpful to the student.  If we always want to be absolutely correct, our key ideas will get lost in the details.

Once the overall concept has been understood, we can then start weave in the details.  Hopefully the details will support the big idea or concept.  

How do you handle the curse of knowledge?

   

Commander's Intent

"No plans survive contact with the enemy."  The military have discovered that the plans that were made in detail to think through all the issues  can change radically in the heat of battle.  In the 1980's they added an element to the planning called the Commanders Intent (CI).  This was a short succinct statement that help the people under the commander know the overall intent and make decision in the heat of battle which supported the CI.  In business, I believe the same principle applies.  If you know your leaders intent, you can make decisions that support the intent even if the actions were not in the plan.  We make lots of decisions everyday which need to fit with our commander's intent.

At Project X Ltd., we have a CI which expresses itself in the phrase "Always act in the best interest of the client.'  In every situation, this intent gives us guidance on how to act.  I do not mean to imply that the solution is easy but at least the intent is clear and memorable.  

Another which we keep in the front of our mind is "Business Value Through Rapid Results."  This Commander's Intent is always on our mind as we work on the business and IT challenges which face us daily.   We have frequent ad hoc meetings looking for ways of creating breakthroughs for our clients on projects.   I find the idea really helps in our decision making.     

The real key with the CI is that is a simple message that will be remembered under pressure and will be helpful in making decisions.  I have found in my experience this phrase is quite helpful.

Many plans in business do not transmit the CI in a simple, memorable and practical terms.  Many organization issue CI messages that people who are doing the work find it difficult to use as a basis for decision making.  For example, "increasing shareholder value" or "increasing the firms profitability by X%", neither of these will help the person dealing with customer complaint or fixing some problem on a production line.  They certainly will not have guidance from that intent.   However if the people in the particular area could translate that into an intent for their area or department then it might stick.

One example is the story on Sony in the early days of transistors.  Sony was struggling to find its niche and was building rice cookers and many other things.  One fellow decided to give the company the challenge of "Building a pocket-able radio."  At the time radios were a big piece of furniture and the vision was considered impossible.  The intent was clear and launch Sony on a journey to leadership in the electronics business. 

JFK's intent to have a man on the moon walk on the moon and return safely within the decade is an amazing example of CI.

Can you think of great examples of Commander's Intent?  What is your intent?    

   

Basecamp and Cloud Computing

I have used a fantastic tool called Basecamp for quite some time.  It is a tool created by 37Signals and has been out for a long while and probably reviewed dozens of times before. I wanted to write a brief post about this tool though because of the tremendous value I have gotten from it over the past year.  More importantly, I wanted to write about it because it is a great example of applications that are available on the internet, or, to use the term used today, an app that is in the cloud.  I am a tech at heart and love to deploy things internally, but I see increasingly, how powerful the "in-the-cloud" model is about to become.  Before I go too far, though, let's talk a little about Basecamp first.

via www.mipsscan.com

Thought I would cross-post this blog I did the other day as there has been a lot of people reading it over on mip's scan. Basecamp is a fantastic tool that I've been using for a long while and a number of Project X client's have found value in our using it as a part of our projects. I hope you find this cross post interesting. if you've been using Basecamp, or other cloud-based tools, I'd love to hear what your experiences have been.

Core versus Context Business

What part of your business is CORE and what is CONTEXT?  What differentiates you and what must you do well but does not differentiate you.   This mental model can really make you look at your business in a new light.  In a book by Moore called "Dealing with Darwin: How Great Companies Innovate at Every Phase of Their Evolution" he makes an interesting distinction between various activities of a company which might be of help in setting company strategy.  He defines Core activities as the activities your company does that has potential to differentiate you from your competition and Context activities as those activities which you must do well to keep up to or ahead of your competition but will not differentiate you.

For example, personnel support is a very important activity but is not one that will differentiate you from your competitors.  Often customer service falls into that category.  Certain aspects of information processing can also be a context activity.  If you are looking for resources and money to invest in your core activity, these are areas you might consider improving your productivity through outsourcing.  Remember these are things you must do well to stay in business but will not differentiate you. 

However he does point out the people working in these areas may not be suitable for innovative activities.  He does suggest they may be used for managing an outsourcing and in the more routine work in a core activity.  This would free up resources more suited for innovative work.

Analysis of your core and context can be very helpful in considering where you should be applying money and resources.  How can you differentiate yourself and which way should your business evolve?  Sometimes you need money and resources just to keep up with the competition and the business environment.

In his book he also talks about the type of company you are and your stage of growth.  I did not find those models as helpful as the ideas on core and context.