You are a startup or a small company. Or, you are a small division in a large company. You have brilliant, motivated people on your team. Yet you are facing a lot of challenges managing your projects. Read more
So, you are worried that when an overwhelming percentage of projects fail with experts at the helm, how would you be able to cope with it with a lot less resources and time. Read more
…You may or may not have heard such buzzwords as Waterfall, Iterative, Agile, etc. when discussing the SDLC processes you follow. Irrespective of what anybody says, know that it is not required. Read more
Now you and your team have the right skills and you have the essential processes in place. How you wish this powerful combination could deliver you success in all projects automatically!
The fact is, it is not good enough. Read more
According to surveys by the Standish Group, 20-25% of projects fail (or are challenged… never mind the terminology… just know that either the vendor and/or the customer is adversely impacted, and that is bad) due to poorly defined requirements.
Requirements must be absolutely clear and signed off by you and the customer. Read more
Now that you have created a detailed document with features, it is advisable for you to create a traceability matrix (like the one shown here) in an Excel file matching each feature or functionality (in a column) to a requirement (in a row). This will ensure that all requirements are met.
This will also help you quickly identify which features are impacted when a change in a requirement is sought. Any time a change is effected in the requirements, refer to the matrix to identify the features impacted by the change and make appropriate modifications to the spec. Read more
Once the requirements are finalized, the technical lead (in many cases, that role may also be played by you) starts architecting the software and designing the database.
Do have a meeting with the entire team and ensure they understand the bigger picture.
…Assign tasks to team members through tools that will help you track the progress of each task, thereby helping you to track the project plan continually. Read more
Project planning is an essential step that is quite often ignored, or if followed, not followed earnestly enough throughout the project.
If you have done due diligence with your requirements and the consequent functional specification, the first step in project planning is probably already done, for the most part.
We are referring to breaking down the work into small tasks in a structured way.
The philosophy remains the same as for the development of the functional spec… Break complex modules into smaller features and each feature into sub-feature(s) till you have broken them down into tasks that take no longer than 2 days each. Read more
Weekly tracking and updating the project plan you must. If you have tasks that span less than a day, you should take stock of the situation at the end of the day. But, don’t be a bossy person and jump at conclusions if the “targets” were not met.
After all, estimates are estimates only.
Communication lapses do cause a lot of heartburn and do cause projects to fail. Reporting is as important as planning and tracking. Read more
The demand for cheaper, faster and better applications will always be there, howsoever cheaper, faster and better you make them. This can be achieved only by making use of innovative applications, and not by reinventing the wheels.
But, as a business analyst, you are the best person to build the application (or most of it). This is logical because you understand the bigger picture, you communicate with the client, you visualize the app from day one with the client’s business objectives held dear to you, and you can communicate it best to the internal teams. So, you should be able to build all of the application or most of it…YOURSELF. Read more
