What? In 1999, Buckingham and Coffman authored First, Break All the Rules. They used Gallop data from manager interviews to identify how good managers drive employee satisfaction. Internally at ArgonDigital, we use the methodology described in the book for gauging employee satisfaction. People who join us are sometimes surprised by our survey. We ask a number of […]
Tag: requirements gathering
Finding a New Apartment: Part III
In Part I of this series, I presented the problem of finding a new apartment while trying to satisfy the desires of my roommates. Creating user personas to detail what really mattered to my roommates, I was able to detail the main ideas surrounding my roommates. In Part II of the series, I used a decision tree […]
Gathering Requirements in a Green Field
In my time at ArgonDigital, I’ve had a chance to work with a number of different clients, operating in a range of industries. Oftentimes, these clients begin projects with a number of legacy systems that need updated or integrated with; it is a rare opportunity for a project team to get to create a solution […]
Sticking to our Guns
I’ve been working on a program that has certain been a challenge, both from the subject matter, the extremely short timeframes given (imposed governmental regulations that must be met), to the stakeholders (who have day jobs to perform as well). Everyone is under pressure, which can make for some short fuses as well as poor […]
Tips for Remote Presenting
As consultants with clients around Austin and in different cities around the country, we here at ArgonDigital are often required to hold and run online meetings. We have found that desktop sharing applications are an invaluable tool for remote collaboration and can make the difference between a ho-hum meeting and one that is truly productive. […]
When Features Attack!
As the saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention”, ArgonDigital’s 10+ year mission to “redefine the way software requirements are created,” was no accident either. While vague, incomplete or incorrect requirements are issues we face every day, the more vexing, expensive, and ever-expanding problem we face is how to battle unnecessary features. It’s surprisingly […]
Requirements Deliverables: Target Your Audience
At ArgonDigital, we consistently tout the invaluable benefit of using models in your requirements process. In many cases, models are more than enough to communicate the intended functionality to all stakeholders. This is especially true if you have been using models in your process for some time and stakeholders know what to expect. However, in […]
Requirements in the News: Prison security system fails and releases Florida prisoners from cells
Poor requirements too often result in delay and expensive rework, but in the case of a Miami prison that repeatedly released all of its maximum security inmates from their cells, missed requirements caused serious injury. As reported by Wired Magazine, on two separate occasions the doors of Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami, Florida […]
How to Win an Argument with your Girlfriend
As an RA, I have to solve problems by searching through background documents and listening to stakeholders. Every day I am in charge of creating models that help create a successful project. One of the models that we use at ArgonDigital is the Business Objectives Model, to understand what our client’s business problems are and […]
Shakespeare Would Suck at Gathering Requirements
In William Shakespeare’s famous play, Romeo and Juliet, Juliet tells her sweet Romeo: “What’s in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet” Short answer in the requirements world: No. If you have ever been tasked with writing software requirements, you may be forced to disagree with our […]
Business Analyst Elicitation Tip: Recreate the Context to Retrieve Information
This software requirements elicitation tip is for every business analyst who’s needed to nudge someone’s memory during elicitation. The other day one of my customers asked “Did you do that thing that someone was going to ask you to do?” Since no one had asked me to take on a new task, I was a […]
Post-SIFMA Tech Expo: New Report on Compliance and Software Requirements
ArgonDigital participated in the SIFMA Tech Expo in New York last week, and it was clear that the financial services industry “gets” the need for software requirements that are complete, accurate, and unambiguous. Many of those we met were not only interested in visual requirements models, but were also interested in the impact of compliance […]