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Type: Principles
Sources: A 2-part article on the subject at Raven's Brain: Part 1, Part 2. Go there for more detail!
If you need a PDF, go to The Requirements Network.
Gist
It might sound esoteric...
Type: Principles
Sources: Jakob Nielsen, thanks to Scott Selhorst
Gist
to support good user interfaces. These principles can be used in an attempt to test UI very efficiently without doing...
Type: Rules
Sources: http://tynerblain.com/blog/2008/04/09/improved-prioritization, thanks to Scott Selhorst for yet another great idea. Go there if you need a more visual explanation. I added my...
Type: Rules
Gist
to provoke 2nd thoughts if you are to take some part in a refactoring. Refactorings seem to come about more frequently these days, maybe because even the stolid of the business...
Type: Principles
Sources: I stole the idea from Tom Gilb's (generic) 12 Tough Questions
Gist
To show waterfall projects what they are missing; to show waterfall projects that say they have always...
Type: Principles
Sources: Chris Britton, Microsoft, 2007 (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb508955.aspx)
Gist
The characteristics of engineering are:
Principles and Notes
1) The design is...
Type: Rules
Gist
Left with the 3 Most Powerful Requirements Principles, what should you do? The following 4 rules can help you adhere to them.
Rules and Notes
R1: You should get to the...
Type: Principles
Sources: Scott Berkun: How to Detect Bullshit; and my all-time-favourite checklist: 12 Tough Questions by Tom Gilb.
Gist
to provide a general checklist for the suspicious. The 5...
Type: Process
Sources: my practice, Niels Malotaux (see http://www.malotaux.nl/), http://www.iit.edu/~it/delphi.html
Gist
Every once in a while we start projects, or are about to start one, and...
Type: Rules
Sources: Niels Malotaux, www.malotaux.nl
Gist
What to do next? This ever returning question bothers me all the time. How do I make sure I don't waste my time? How do I make sure I do...
Type: Principles
Sources: inspired by Cheri Baker at the Enlightended Manager Weblog; the 'Seeds of Compassion Webcast' from an event in Seattle, USA; some of the books the 14. Dalai Lama wrote;...
Type: Rules
Gist
Most BAs and a lot of other project people would immediatly agree to "nonfunctional requirements (NFR) are important in almost any software development." However, most often these...
Type: Rules
Sources: Matthew Leitch (Internal Controls Design), D. Doerner (Logic of Failure), Robert Maurer (The Kaizen Way), my own experiments and experience. And thanks Mr. Covey for the...
Type: Rules
Gist
As a business/systems analyst, you will inevitably be confronted with the need to tell somebody about the requirements. The challange is to transport your knowledge...
Type: Rules
Gist
Effective problem solvers develop a mind set of effectiveness. Here are the 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, from Stephen R. Covey, Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1989
Rules and...
Type: Rules
Gist
While planning tasks or activities, and at the same time focusing on quick results, it is a good idea to describe each task by means of different viewpoints. Here's my suggestion,...
Type: Rules
Gist
Every now and then I run into the task to pick a business analyst or systems analyst for a project or customer. Sometimes this starts with writing a job offer, sometimes with a...
Type: Rules
Gist
The RE in my projects follows these guidelines. They represent a fundamental, i. e. not negotiable set.
Rules
P1: Requirements are driven by business; technical aspects or...
Type: Principles
Sources: D. Doerner ('The Logic of Failure'), own thoughts
Gist
to explain why - for a complex, dynamic, interrelated endeavour - it is paramount to decompose global, complex,...
Type: Rules
Gist
What are the requirements for? From time to time I run into a project where the business analyst in charge (or requirements manager, or what ever they call him) does not know the...
Type: Rules
Gist
Using a smart way of finding the use cases to start with
Note: You may want to replace 'use case' with 'feature'.
Principles and Notes
You should start with a use case that has the...
History
This wiki's origin lies in a blog I wrote (Clear Conceptual Thinking).
My friend and nitpicker extraordinaire Dick Karpinski suggested to turn it in a wiki, for everybody could...
No Fluff – Just Stuff
This site provides useful checklists of all kinds – principles, processes, rules – for work on requirements, projects, systems.
We keep it in a very condensed style,...
Type: Rules
Sources: Peter Eeles, Senior Architect, IBM, 2004, http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/4706.html
Gist
to provide a checklist of analysis mechanisms that can be used in...
Type: Principles, Rules
Sources: Sorry, I know I used somebody else's material here but I failed to write the source down. If you feel like "hey, that's my idea" please let me know and I will be...
Type: Rules
Sources: Dan North's Behavior Driven Development (RSpec). I was introduced to this by Chris Matts.
Gist
Specify scenarios in a human (and machine) readable, yet compact way.
Rules and...
Name: BA's weaponry: Standards on Business Analysis
Type: citation
Status: draft
Version: 2008-03-28
Gist: to give a list of standards that are available and can be useful for business...
Type: Process
Gist
How to implement agile across distributed teams.
Note: Keeping productivity in mind it is really not advisable to distribute teams. Expect half the productivity you could...
Type: Process
Sources: http://www.shmula.com/458/the-hidden-factory-would-the-customer-pay-for-that
Gist
to find out, where in a process you can improve efficiency, with respect to added value to...
Type: Principles
Gist
How to find out, whether a product is a success.
Principles and Notes
P1: success = inner quality * stakeholder acceptance
Note: Agile developments specifically adress the...
Type: Process
Gist
Rationale: This process can be used as a guideline for issueing and evaluating a call for tenders. It is suitable for requesting projects, products or other external services. It...
Type: Principles
Sources: Tom and Mary Poppendieck, Implementing Lean Software Development, Addison Wesley 2007
Principles and Notes
From the word 'software' alone can be deducted that this part of...
Type: Rules
Gist
A way of changing requirements even if a fixed price contract has beed agreed upon
Rules and Notes
R1: The total effort does not change.
R2: The customer has to specify each change...
Type: Process
Sources: Michael Covington and my own experience.
Gist
To explain how to amplify skills for writing information texts (not fiction or poetry). You can apply it to the introductory or...
Type: Rules
Sources: Mike Cohn (Agile Estimation and Planning, 2006), my own tested ideas
Gist
How to communicate a release or iteration plan to team members and to management
Rules and Notes
R1)...
/* from:
http://www.openwebdesign.org/viewdesign.phtml?id=3187&referer=%2Fbrowse.php
edited for different banner picture background by Rolf Goetz
*/
/* Global Properties */
body {...
Type: Process
Gist
to explain how to act upon a problem or complex, dynamic, invisible situation
Entry Conditions
every process must have at least 1 entry condition in order to prevent un-economic...
Type: Rules
Sources: David Gelperin (Modeling Alternative Courses in Detailed Use Cases, LiveSpecs Software, 2003), Tom DeMarco (Structured Analysis and System Specification, Prentice Hall PTR,...
Type: Rules
Gist
Selecting people to join your project team in an efficient and fun manner
Rules and Notes
R1) invite all candidates at once
R2) talk to the group, let the group talk to itself
R3)...
Type: Process
Gist
to provide verification for a feature of a product, a plan of actions concerning the development of a product, or concerning the development of real options.
Note: you can apply...
Type: Process
Sources: T. Sulaiman, H. Smits in Measuring Integrated Progress on Agile Software Development Projects. In addition, there's tons of information out there on Earned Value Analysis,...
Type: Rules
Gist
Calculate Effort from # of Function Points, for Enhancements
Rules and Notes
R1: The Capers Jones Formula for Effort E of new Products (in person months):
(1)
R2: Enhancements of...
Name: Eisenhower on Plans
Type: Citation
Status: Draft
Version: 2007-05-07
Source: <?>
"In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." -...
Type: Rules
Referring to: Process.Call for tenders
Rules and Notes
R1: Have the presentations scheduled with little time between them.
R2: Again have different evaluation tasks assigned to the...
Type: Rules
Source [R8]: Curt Finch, Will Your Potential Software Vendor Meet Your Requirements?
Referring to: Process.Call for tenders
Note: In all of my projects we evaluated the written...
Type: Principles
Sources: Scott Selhorst on http://tynerblain.com/blog/2007/07/09/enabling-and-resisting-change/
Find a less brief description of Evolutionary Development here....
What is a Wiki Site?
How to edit pages?
How to join this site?
Related Pages
Planet Project Reflexively
Type: Process
Gist
How to find the stakeholders who should be treated special.
Entry Conditions
every process must have at least 1 entry condition in order to prevent un-economic conduction
Steps...
Type: Rules
Sources: Implementing Lean Software Development, Mary and Tom Poppendieck, Addison Wesley, 2007; own experience; a talk of Mishkin Berteig at Agile 2008
Gist
to explain what influences...
Type: Rules
Sources: www.oose.de
Gist
Find out whether a given system use case isn't too large and not too small.
Rules and Notes
R1: Each use case has a business trigger
R2: Each use case yields...
Type: Rules
Sources: Pollyanna Pixton, talk at APLN 2006, Gerhard Wohland, Niels Malotaux, my own thoughts
Rules and Notes
R1: make sure the individuals in the enterprise want to learn and are...
Type: Rules
Sources: Dan North, Chris Matts, Dave Astels, my own practice.
Gist
To explain, how to produce useful acceptance criteria.
acceptance criteria (AC) DEFINED AS a means to express the...
Here are links to friends, contributors and otherwise influencal people and institutions:
Ryan Shriver's The Agile Engineer
Raven's Brain
pm411.org Project Management Podcast
Chris Matt's Agile...
Type: Rules
Gist
Atomic requirements are a prerequisite for specs of product lines, of concurrent product releases, and of developments, in which requirements are likely to change during one...
If you are allowed to edit pages in this Site, simply click on edit button at the bottom of the page. This will open an editor.
To create a link to a new page, use syntax: [[[new page name]]] or...
Type: Principles, Process, Rules
Sources: Don Gause & Gerald Weinberg, Are Your Lights On?; two own thoughts
Gist
Problem DEFINED AS difference between things as desired and things as...
Type: Process
Gist
describes what to do as a manager to make sure that the project after it's finished will be seen as a success AND something of real value has been produced.
Entry...
Type: Rules
Gist
Good practice guidelines in case you want to model the static view of a system, on business level
Principles and Notes
R1: Only model what you think is really important to say....
Type: Process
Gist
Dustin Wax wrote an awesome article at the Lifehack web log. Topic: Getting Past Done: What to Do After You've Finished a Big Project
As it is significantly more stuff than fluff...
This is a duplicate page. Go there. Sorry for the inconvenience. (can someone please figure out how to redirect?)
Type: Principles (or Paradigms :-?)
Sources: Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Gist
If you - like me - like to be picky with words sometimes, here's a nice explanation on two words we use...
Type: Principles
Sources: An article on shmula on humane interface design. I stole it completely because I like them so much. Did not add anything. Aza is the son of the late Jef Raskin who wrote...
Type: Principles and Rules
Sources: {Jef Raskin to Tom Gilb, Dick Karpinski summarizing The Humane Interface}
Gist
Principles and Rules about the fundamental issues of interaction design for...
Type: Process
Sources: Niels Malotaux, Gilb Seminar on Decision Making, London, UK, 2007
Gist
Show the participants of the experiment that they are not very good at making estimates and not very...
Name: Hume on Ambiguity
Type: Citation
Status: finished
Version: 2007-05-04
Source: David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section VIII, Part 1
"From this circumstance alone, that a...
Type: Principles
Gist
How to estimate the return of investment for a product/project
Principles and Notes
P1: If you don't have to express value in dollars and cents there's no sense in expressing...
Here's a template of an Impact Estimation Table - in GERMAN.
The table is based on Tom Gilb's ideas, and the orignal form came from Agile Engineer Ryan Shriver.
Kai Gilb likes to call these tables...
Type: Process
Sources: Scott Selhorst on Tyner Blain; Business Analysis Body of Knowledge, Version 1.6; James Taylor's Decision Managment; my own experience; also see see Wikipedia, Business rule...
Rationale
I run a weblog at http://www.ClearConceptualThinking.net
98% of it consist of process descriptions, lists of principles and sets of rules on various topics related to software engineering...
Who can join?
You are most welcome. If you have knowledge to share on projects, requirements, or systems, don't hesitate to join!
Join!
So you want to become a member of this site? Tell us why and...
Type: Principles
Sources: Michael Shrivathsan, with some minor addition on my side. Thanks to Scott Selhorst for bringing me this stuff.
Gist
to explain how to design kick-ass products (or at least...
Type: Principles
Sources: See: http://www.shmula.com/340/lean-for-software-interview-with-mary-poppendieck
Chris's article on InfoQ
Principles and Notes
P1: Flow (or low inventory, or just-in-time)...
Type: Rules
Sources: http://www.shmula.com/340/lean-for-software-interview-with-mary-poppendieck
Rules and Notes
R1: Flow (or low inventory, or just-in-time) (inventory DEFINED AS something...
Name: Link Fest on Non-Functional Requirements
Type: References
Status: final
Version: 2008-06-02
Gist: As there are no posts as of June 2007 I could remind you of, I decided to direct you to...
Title: Means and Ends again
Type: citation
Source: Kathy Sierra
What good does it do to master a tool if we haven't understood (let alone mastered) the thing we're using the tool for?
Related...
Type: Process
Gist
to improve on estimating how long a given task will take. To give a well grounded answer to the question: "When will this be finished?"
Note: although this process aims at...
"And the winners are…"
ProcessTemplate
Writing Atomic Functional Requirements
Improve the Re-Usability of Use Cases by Extracting Business Rules
Use Case Content Patterns
10 Critical Principles...
Type: Rules
Gist
Finding a good name for a use case
Rules and Notes
R1: use the form "<verb> <subject>", e.g. "change reservation"
R2: use <subject> in the correct number...
Type: Principles and Rules
Sources: My friend Sven, a very insightful discussion with Tom Gilb.
Gist
There seem to be a constant quarrel about so called 'nonfunctional requirements': what are they,...
This page is only a picture container.
Open Questions
What is the charter of this wiki?
Links about using wikis
Ref: Patterns of Use of Wikis http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/Wikipatterns
Open Questions
Q: What is the charter of this wiki?
A: Have a look at the 'about' page
Links about using wikis
Ref: Patterns of Use of Wikis
If you add or edit a page to this wiki, please use the templates provided. This adds to readability of the PlanetProject pages, as each page uses a similar structure. Thank...
Type: Rules
Referring to: Process.call for tenders
Gist
Even a call for tenders benefits from sound planning!
Entry Conditions
E1: A list of evaluation criteria has been assembled an agreed upon by...
Type: Principles and Rules
Sources: {source1, source2, …}
Gist
add some explanatory text here
Summary of Principles
this section is optional. use it if there are many principles with many...
Type: Principles
Sources: Principles of Clear Thinking. <- Blog on www.gilb.com 2007-03-27; rest: own thoughts
Gist
These Principles of Clear Thinking encompass a basic set of conditions to meet...
Type: Process
Sources: my practice, Niels Malotaux (see http://www.maloteaux.nl/), http://www.iit.edu/~it/delphi.html
Entry Conditions
Entry1: You need to have clear objectives.
Note: If you...
Type: Process
Entry Conditions
every process must have at least 1 entry condition in order to prevent un-economic conduction of the process
Steps and Notes
S1: Right-Click on one of the...
Here's a set of requirements templates - in GERMAN.
The templates are based on Tom Gilb's ideas, I just translated it more or less 1:1.
Download the template (RTF)
Related Pages
Where to go from...
Type: Principles
Gist
Conduct reviews in the right order.
Principles and Notes
P1: Only if the object is clean, it's useful to see if it's right
Clean means it's formally OK. This does not...
Type: Principles
Sources: Matthew Leitch's Online Survey on 'Indivudual differences in risk and uncertainty management' (http://www.internalcontrolsdesign.co.uk/rumaresults/index.html)
Gist
Provide...
Fast & simple: Subscribe to Principles, Rules, and Processes only by choosing your feed reader
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Enter...
Type: Rules
Sources: Standard document rules by Tom Gilb, my own experience with use cases
Gist
If you do some sort of QA for use cases, there are a lot of possible defects to look out for. Here's...
Type: Rules
Referring to: Process.Call for tenders
Rules and Notes
R1: make use of professional help
purchasing department can be used to reduce prices
provider management department can provide a...
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ProcessTemplate
Writing Atomic...
Type: Process
Sources: Stefan Brombach (http://www.dreizeit.de/), Kai-Jürgen Lietz (Das Entscheider-Buch, Hanser 2007), Tom Gilb, own thoughts.
Gist
how to make well-grounded decisions even if you...
Members:
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Type: Rules
Sources: various authors, including D. Doering ('Die Logik des Misslingens'); Tom Gilb; my own experience
Gist
to describe goals (of an organization, of an IT system, …) in a clear...
Type: Rules
Sources: Jeff Patton (Agile Development Outside-In), some minor adjustments from my point of view. Thanks to Scott Selhorst for bringing this stuff to me.
Gist
Explain how to strip...
Definition
Principle:
A principle is a statement which summarizes and teaches a fundamental truth about a subject matter. A principle describes actual reality, i.e. the way things are. Principles...
Please copy everything in the block below to the clipboard und paste it into your new page.
Type: Principles and Rules
Sources: {source1, source2, ...}
++ Gist
add some explanatory text here
++...
Please copy everything in the block below to the clipboard und paste it into your new page.
Type: Process
Sources: {source1, source2, ...}
++ Gist
add some explanatory text here
++ Summary of...
Definition
Rule:
A rule is suggestion for an action under a set of conditions. It takes the form "if/when … then …".
Sources: Gerhard Wohland (Denkwerkzeuge für dynamische Märkte)
Notes:
1....
These are the formats you can choose from to add new pages:
ProcessTemplate
RulesTemplate
PrinciplesTemplate
This adds to readability of the PlanetProject pages, as each page uses a similar...
Who ever you are, dear anonymous user, go ahead and produce some quality content! Or think about JOIN!joining first. - Rolf
Type: Process
Sources: {source1, source2, …}
Gist
add some explanatory...
Type: Rules
Sources: Internet, IFPUG-Website, Capers Jones
Gist
Calculate the number of test cases for a reasonably tested product.
Rules and Notes
R1:
(1)
R2:
(2)
Costs, Savings
What does it...
"Your articles provide great help finding the real problems!" - Harjo K.
"There is so much wisdom buried in projects. Rolf does a great job in digging it out and write down the stuff with no...
Type: Rules
Rules and Notes
R1: Step aside and let your team members work
R2: Only do 2 things
- make sure everybody has what they need to succeed
- create a place where people want to be
Note: If...
Type: Principles
Gist
A lot has been written about how requirements should look like, on what they are and what they are not, on what you should do to capture them etc. These 3 principles take you...
Type: Principles
Sources: The Contractor's Bill is from Gilb, Tom. 1988. Principles of Software Engineering Management. Wokingham and Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Page 23.
The Customer's Bill is...
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most wanted
Type: Process
Sources: Martin Langlands (UK), Rolf Goetz (Gemany)
Gist
While modelling use cases, have you ever thought 'I have modelled something very similar before.'? Here's a solution to...
Type: Rules
Sources:
www.disambiguity.com/yes-you-should-be-using-personas/
www.evolt.org/article/Practical_Persona_Creation/4090/56111/index.html
Gist
Support the concept of user personas for...
No Fluff – Just Stuff
This site provides useful checklists of all kinds – principles, processes, rules – for work on requirements, projects, systems.
We keep it in a very condensed style,...
Type: (Anti-)Rules
Gist
How to use the BUFR approach in order to hinder change, to avoid focus on business value, to create thrashing, to facilitate no longer valid requirements and to create high...
According to Wikipedia, the world largest wiki site:
A Wiki ([ˈwiː.kiː] <wee-kee> or [ˈwɪ.kiː] <wick-ey>) is a type of website that allows users to add, remove, or otherwise edit...
Type: Principles, Rules
Sources: T. Gilb's work on Impact Estimation Tables, see http://www.gilb.com/; my own experience
Gist
Have you seen presentations suggesting a project or other endeavour...
Type: Principles and Rules
Sources: my work in the late 1990s with Sven Biedermann; the SOPHISTs; Dan Berry's Ambiguity Handbook; a discussion on shall vs must in requirements on Tyner Blain;...
Type: Process
Sources: Tom Gilb, Jeffrey K. Liker ("The Toyota Way", McGraw-Hill, 2004) my experience as a QA manager of a project in which a team of business analysts had to write 200+ use...
Type: Rules
Sources: Planguage Glossary, own experience
Gist
This article explains why it is a good idea to specify requirements (or designs) giving commentary or background...
