Weekly Digest 08-43
Quote of the Week
Alistair Cockburn
A methodology is, in fact, a straightjacket. It is exactly the set of conventions and policies the people agree to use: It is the size and shape of straight jacket they choose for themselves. Given the varying characteristics of different people, though, that straightjacket should not be made any tighter than it absolutely needs to be.
New Subscriptions
Below are new blogs to which I’ve subscribed over the past week and would recommend to my readers.
- Bridging the gap between business and IT – I discovered Laura Brenau’s relatively new blog via her comment on a recent post of mine, scanned her content, and subscribed right away. On her blog you’ll find great content for BA’s, including “signs that business analysis is the career for you,” and answers to questions such as: When are you “done” with requirements? Why are requirements reviews valuable? She also provides 5 questions to ask before starting any IT project.
- The Agile Engineer by Ryan Shriver is a “resource for people planning, designing, building and deploying critical systems.” It has lots of nice blog content, and a page of downloadable presentations on various agile topics, namely, “Measuring Business Value with Agile.” The post that first brought me to the site was one where Ryan questions the effectiveness of user stories for capturing non-functional requirements, then provides an alternative.
Funny Stuff!
Ever hear the story about the guy that got lost in his hot air balloon? No? Good, well, I’ll share it with you here. It’s pretty funny, and pretty true to life in terms of how business and IT see each other. (Hat Tip: Somasegar’s WebLog)
A man in a hot air balloon is lost. He sees a man on the ground and reduces height to speak to him.
“Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?”
“You’re in a hot air balloon hovering thirty feet above this field,” comes the reply.
“You must work in Information Technology,” says the balloonist.
“I do,” says the man, “How did you know?”
“Well,” says the balloonist, “Everything you told me is technically correct, but it’s no use to anyone.”
“You must be in business,” says the man.
“I am,” says the balloonist, “How did you know?”
“Well,” says the man, “You don’t know where you are, you don’t know where you’re going, but you expect me to be able to help. You’re in the same position you were before we met, but now it’s my fault.”
Free Stuff!
Mind Mapping Software
Opinions vary on the usefulness of mind-mapping in a business analysis context. I’ve been experimenting with mind-mapping for taking notes, preparing blog posts, brainstorming, creating a content map for planning changes to this site, and a few other things. I have yet to use mind mapping much for actual requirements elicitation or specification. The reason for bringing mind-mapping up, though, is that Lifehacker indicates that version 5 of ConceptDraw MindMap is being offered free for a limited time.
I can vouch for the validity of the offer, as I grabbed it myself on Tuesday evening. I haven’t really used it enough yet to be able to give it a fair critique, but I have noticed that it has a nifty brainstorming utility, and exports nicely to MS apps. I’ve always used (open source) Freemind, and have really liked it. Will MindMap replace it? Don’t know. That may be a topic for another day. For now, go ahead and grab a free copy for yourself and see what you think.
Prototyping Software
Serena is offering its Prototype Composer for free. You do have to fill out a form so you may end up getting a call from a sales guy, but if you’re interested in prototyping and free software, it’s a more than reasonable tradeoff. Serena product has been around for a while and is reputed to be a solid product. They actually offer a whole suite of product of which the Prototype Composer is just a small piece. I downloaded it myself the other night and will probably begin playing with it over the weekend and next week. Anyway, I’m a bum for free software so just wanted to pass long word.
Just so you know..
Because I know someone will wonder… I just happen to love finding new technology and tools to see what they’re like and if they might potentially help me do my job better or more efficiently – all the more when they’re being offered free of charge! That said, I don’t advocate or endorse either of the products mentioned above, nor was I compensated in any way (aside from getting some free software) by Serena or ConceptDraw for mentioning them here.
I will let you know if I strongly like or dislike them once I’ve had some time to play with them, though! In the mean time, please let me know of any tools or software that you’ve come across that you think would be useful for business analysts. I’d love to check them out!
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