Requirements

Tutorials

MB Requirements Engineering: A Practicum

Erik van Veenendaal, Improve IT Services BV

Mon, 11/11/2013 - 8:30am

Identifying, documenting, and communicating software requirements are key to all successful IT projects. Common problems in requirements engineering are “How do we discover the real requirements?”, “How do we document requirements?”, and “How do user stories fit into requirements?” Erik van Veenendaal answers these questions and more while helping you improve your skills in requirements engineering for both traditional and agile projects. With practical case studies and hands-on exercises, Erik illustrates requirements issues and solutions.

TG Agile Project Failures: Root Causes and Corrective Actions

Jeff Payne, Coveros, Inc.

Tue, 11/12/2013 - 8:30am

Agile initiatives always begin with the best of intentions—accelerate delivery, better meet customer needs, or improve software quality. Unfortunately, some agile projects do not deliver on these expectations. If you want help to ensure the success of your agile project or get an agile project back on track, this session is for you. Jeff Payne discusses the most common causes of agile project failure and how you can avoid these issues—or mitigate their damaging effects.

TH The Role of the Agile Business Analyst

Steve Adolph, WSA Consulting

Tue, 11/12/2013 - 8:30am

The business analyst (BA) role seems conspicuously absent from most agile methods. Does agile make the BA role obsolete? Certainly not! But how does a BA exploit the short cycle times and collaborative nature of agile methods? Drawing from the principles of lean product development flow, Steve Adolph introduces five principles for the agile BA—Open the Channels, Chart the Flow, Generate Flow, Lean Out the Flow, and Bridge the Flow. As a communicator, the BA must Open the Channels and Chart the Flow to align all stakeholders.

Concurrent Sessions

BW6 Data Collection and Analysis for Better Requirements

Brandon Carlson, Lean TECHniques, Inc.

Wed, 11/13/2013 - 2:15pm

According to studies, 64 percent of features in systems are rarely—or never—used. How does this happen? Today, the work of eliciting the customers' true needs, which often remains elusive, can be enhanced using data-driven requirements techniques. Brandon Carlson describes why traditional requirements analysis is so difficult and presents a set of seven data collection approaches and analysis techniques you can employ on your projects right away. Learn how to instrument existing applications and develop new requirements based on operational profiles of the current system.

BW10 Requirements Elicitation—the Social Media Way

Stefano Rizzo, Polarion Software

Wed, 11/13/2013 - 3:45pm

Agile methods have proven their ability to improve project success rates. However, when agile methods are applied to complex projects, we need to further explore the area of effective customer involvement. According to the agile philosophy, the users must be part of the development team. But, Stefano Rizzo asks: What if there are thousands of users with good ideas dispersed around the globe and around the clock? Can a Product Owner really represent all their interests?