Summary

;I spend much time helping organizations capture requirements and even more time helping them recover from not capturing requirements. Many of them have gone through some motions regarding requirements as if they were sleepworking. It's time to wake up and do it right ;and this book is going to be their alarm clock. ; ; Jerry Weinberg, author of numerous books on productivity enhancement ;In today's complex, fast-paced software development environment, collaboration ;the intense peer-to-peer conversations that result in products, decisions, and knowledge sharing ;is absolutely essential to success. But all too often, attempts to collaborate degenerate into agonizing meetings or ineffectual bull sessions. Ellen's wonderful book will help you bridge the gap ;turning the agony of meetings into the ecstasy of effective collaboration. ; ; Jim Highsmith, a pioneer in adaptive software development methods ; Requirements by Collaborationpresents a wealth of practical tools and techniques for facilitating requirements development workshops. It is suitable ;no, essential reading ;for requirements workshop facilitators. It will help both technical people and customer representatives participate in these critical contributions to software success. ; ; Karl Wiegers, Principal Consultant, Process Impact, author of Software Requirements ;The need for this particular book, at this particular time, is crystal clear. We have entered a new age where software development must be viewed as a form of business problem solving. That means direct user participation in developing ;requirements,' or more accurately, in jointly working the business problem. That, in turn, means facilitated sessions. In this book, Ellen Gottesdiener provides a wealth of practical ideas for ensuring that you have exactly the right stuff for this all-important area of professional art. ; ; Ronald G. Ross, Principal, Business Rule Solutions, LLC, Executive Editor,www.BRCommunity.com ;Gottesdiener's years of software development experience coupled with her straight-forward writing style make her book a perfect choice for either a senior developer or a midlevel project manager. In addition to her technical experience, her knowledge of group dynamics balance the book by educating the reader on how to manage conflict and personality differences within a requirements team ;something that is missing from most requirements textbooks...It is a required ;handbook' that will be referred to again and again. ; ; Kay Christian, ebusiness Consultant, Conifer, Colorado ; Requirements by Collaborationis a ;must read' for any system stakeholder. End users and system analysts will learn the significant value they can add to the systems development process. Management will learn the tremendous return they may receive from making a modest time/people investment in facilitated sessions. Facilitators will discover ways to glean an amazing amount of high-quality information in a relatively brief time. ; ; Russ Schwartz, Computer System Quality Consultant, Global Biotechnology Firm ;In addition to showing how requirements are identified, evaluated, and confirmed, Ellen provides important guidance based on her own real-world experience for creating and managing the workshop environment in which requirements are generated. This book is an engaging and invaluable resource for project teams and sponsors, both business and IT, who are committed to achieving results in the most productive manner possible. ; ; Hal Thilmony, Senior Manager, Business Process Improvement (Finance), CiscoSystems, Inc. ;Project managers should read this book for assistance with planning the requirements process. Experienced facilitators will enrich their knowledge. New facilitators can use this book to get them up to speed and become more effective in less time. ; ; Rob Stroober, Competence Development Manager and Project Manager, Deloitte &Touche Consultdata, The Netherlands ;While many books discuss the details of software requirement artifacts (for example, use cases), Ellen's new book zeros in on effective workshop techniques and tools used to gather the content of these artifacts. As a pioneer in requirements workshops, she shares her real-life experiences in a comprehensive and easy-to-read book with many helpful examples and diagrams. ; ; Bill Bird, Aera Energy LLC ; Requirements by Collaborationis absolutely full of guidance on the most effective ways to use workshops in requirements capture. This book will help workshop owners and facilitators to determine and gain agreement on a sound set of requirements, which will form a solid foundation for the development work that is to follow. ; ; Jennifer Stapleton, Software Process Consultant and author of DSDM: The Methodin Practice ;This book provides an array of techniques within a clear, structured process, along with excellent examples of how and when to use them. It's an excellent, practical, and really useful handbook written by a very experienced author! ; ; Jean-Anne Kirk, Director DSDM Consortium and IAF Professional Development ;Ellen has written a detailed, comprehensive, and practical handbook for facilitating groups in gathering requirements. The processes she outlines give the facilitator tools to bring together very different perspectives from stakeholders elegantly and with practical, useable results. ; ; Jo Nelson, Principal, ICA Associates, Inc., Chair, IAF (2001-2002) Requirements by Collaboration: Workshops for Defining Needsfocuses on the human side of software development--how well we work with our customers and teammates. Experience shows that the quality and degree of participation, communication, respect, and trust among all the stakeholders in a project can strongly influence its success or failure. Ellen Gottesdiener points out that such qualities are especially important when defining user requirements and she shows in this book exactly what to do about that fact. Gottesdiener shows specifically how to plan and conduct requirements workshops. These carefully organized and facilitated meetings bring business managers, technical staff, customers, and users into a setting where, together, they can discover, evolve, validate, verify, and agree upon their product needs. Not only are their requirements more effectively defined through this collaboration, but the foundation is laid for good teamwork throughout the entire project. Other books focus on how to build the product right. Requirements by Collaborationfocuses instead on what must come first--the right product to build.

Author Biography

Ellen Gottesdiener is President of EBG Consulting, Inc., a firm providing facilitation, consulting, and training services for clients in a wide variety of industries. She is a pioneer in the use of facilitated workshops to elicit business rules and other user requirements. She is the author of numerous articles and several book contributions and is a highly regarded speaker at professional conferences.

0201786060AB02212002

List of Figures	p. XVII
List of Tables	p. XIX
Preface	p. XXI
The Organization of This Book	p. xxiii
Acknowledgments	p. xxiv
Overview of Requirements Workshops	p. 1
Getting Started with Requirements Workshops	p. 3
Essential Requirements	p. 4
Difficulties with Requirements	p. 5
Requirements Levels	p. 6
Surfacing User Requirements	p. 7
User Requirements Models	p. 7
Requirements Workshops	p. 9
Workshops and Collaboration	p. 10
Workshops and Facilitation	p. 11
How Workshops Differ from Typical Meetings	p. 11
Types of Requirements Workshops	p. 14
Workshops and Iterative Development	p. 16
Making the Business Case for a Requirements Workshop	p. 17
When Not to Use Requirements Workshops	p. 17
Summing Up	p. 18
For More Information	p. 19
Workshop Deliverables: Mining Coal, Extracting Diamonds	p. 21
The Evolution of Requirements	p. 22
Business Requirements	p. 24
User Requirements	p. 25
Software Requirements	p. 27
Model Views, Focuses, and Levels of Detail	p. 27
Model Briefings	p. 37
For More Information	p. 45
Ingredients of a Successful Requirements Workshop	p. 47
A Shared Purpose	p. 47
The Right People	p. 48
Shared Space	p. 50
Wise Groups	p. 51
Pre-Work	p. 52
Focus Questions	p. 53
Serious Play	p. 54
Trust	p. 55
Process Variety	p. 56
Doneness Tests	p. 57
Collaborative Closure	p. 59
Flexible Structure	p. 60
Using Both Sides of the Brain	p. 61
Frequent Debriefs	p. 63
Requirements Workshop Framework	p. 65
Purpose: Sharing a Common Goal	p. 67
Writing Your Workshop Purpose Statement	p. 68
Defining Project Scope	p. 72
Identifying the Workshop Sponsor	p. 74
Defining the Workshop Planning Team	p. 75
Sample Purpose Statements	p. 76
Tips	p. 78
Questions to Ask Stakeholders	p. 79
For More Information	p. 80
Participants: Roles People Play	p. 83
Workshop Roles	p. 84
The Workshop Sponsor	p. 86
The Project Sponsor	p. 86
Content Participants	p. 89
The Recorder	p. 95
The Facilitator	p. 96
Observers	p. 103
On-Call Subject Matter Experts	p. 105
Tips	p. 106
Questions to Ask Stakeholders About Participant Roles	p. 106
For More Information	p. 106
Principles: Ground Rules for the Workshop	p. 109
Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing	p. 110
Basic Ground Rules	p. 111
Special Ground Rules	p. 113
Introducing and Testing Ground Rules	p. 116
Hidden Agendas	p. 117
Decision-Making Ground Rules	p. 119
Decision Rules	p. 122
Tips	p. 129
Questions to Ask Stakeholders About Ground Rules	p. 129
For More Information	p. 130
Products: Ending with the Beginning	p. 133
Output Products	p. 134
Intangible Output Products	p. 150
Input Products	p. 152
The Workshop Repository	p. 160
Tips	p. 160
Questions to Ask Stakeholders About Products	p. 162
For More Information	p. 162
Place: Being There	p. 165
Workshop Logistics	p. 166
Room Setup	p. 168
Different Time and Place Options	p. 170
Tips	p. 175
Place Checklists	p. 176
For More Information	p. 176
Process: Plan the Work, Work the Plan	p. 179
Opening the Workshop	p. 180
Designing Activities	p. 182
Collaborative Modes	p. 199
Collaboration Patterns	p. 200
Collaborative Techniques	p. 209
Techniques for Guiding the Flow	p. 210
Group Dynamics	p. 211
Conflict	p. 212
Fun and Games	p. 215
Closing the Workshop	p. 217
Tips	p. 219
Tools for the Workshop Process	p. 220
For More Information	p. 220
Requirements Workshop Design Strategies	p. 223
Workshop Navigation Strategies	p. 225
The Horizontal Strategy	p. 225
The Middle-Out Approach	p. 230
The Vertical Strategy	p. 233
The Zigzag Strategy	p. 238
Comparing the Strategies	p. 240
Workshop Case Studies	p. 241
SalesTrak	p. 241
RegTrak	p. 245
HaveFunds	p. 250
BestClaims	p. 255
Moving Forward	p. 261
Making the Case to Management	p. 262
How to Evaluate Workshops	p. 265
Integrating Workshops into the Requirements Phase	p. 269
Becoming a Skilled Requirements Workshop Facilitator	p. 271
Ground Rules for the Facilitator	p. 274
Epilogue	p. 277
For More Information	p. 277
Collaboration Patterns	p. 279
Glossary	p. 287
Bibliography	p. 303
Index	p. 315
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

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Excerpts

"What is softest in the world drives what is hardest in the world." Lao-Tzu To be successful, software projects need solid requirements and collaborating teams. Problems with requirements are one of the primary causes of software project failure. To make matters worse, the rush to use technologies to collaborate over time and space, or to try to substitute fast development, has resulted in lots of bad software. Many people on both sides of the software divide--developers and users have complaints about their interrelationships. Requirements by Collaborationexplains how to plan and hold workshops to meet two essential needs: efficiently defining user requirements while building positive, productive working relationships. Similar structured workshops are called joint requirements, accelerated design, group design, or Joint Application Design or Development (JAD) sessions. These workshops are about getting the requirements accurately, quickly, and collaboratively, through shared vision and clear communications. By collaborating in this way, you establish relationships, achieve mutual understanding, and build trust. Successful workshops don't just happen. Facilitating a requirements workshop issimple,but it's noteasy.These workshops require forethought, planning, and design on the part of the workshop facilitator as well as its stakeholders. This book focuses on the essential tools you need for planning and leading requirements workshops. It integrates user requirements modeling, including use cases, business rules, and collaborative techniques. It teaches you the basic principles of designing and facilitating requirements workshops and gives you an overview of the deliverables of these workshops. It also shows you workshop design strategies. This book is a complement to other books on requirements gathering as well as those that deal with software engineering, requirements, modeling, and facilitation. To guide your study of these related topics, most chapters include references and information about further reading. The aim of this book is to be practical, not theoretical. It's based on my real-world experiences from the numerous projects I've facilitated for clients as well as a series of courses I've written and delivered to clients in a variety of industries. The goals of this book are to provide a focused perspective on user requirements elicitation and to promote techniques that enhance the ongoing relationship between software and business people. A unique aspect of this book is its discussion ofcollaboration patterns:reusable collections of group behavior applied to software projects. Collaboration patterns extend the idea of "process patterns"(work methods) by exploiting the power of software and customer groups working in tandem to achieve project goals. You can think of collaboration as a continuous feedback loop that enhances both the quality and the speed of communication, and thereby of the products created in workshops. For this reason, the techniques described in this book use collaboration patterns coupled with clearly defined user requirements documentation and diagrams. Anyone who participates in initiating, eliciting, analyzing, verifying, validating, or approving requirements for software will find this book useful. The focus is on perspectives, ranging from those of project sponsors to analysts, with the goal of providing a common understanding of user requirements from concept through specification. Readers of this book include people who will facilitate requirements workshops; project, product, and business managers overseeing the requirements process; and participants in requirements workshops. Project roles include analyst, project manager, product manager, developer, architect, quality assurance analyst, tester, and requirements engineer. Like life itself, workshops are often surprising. You plan, and plan y