DCBADD2015 our req are good by Brennan

1. Our Requirements Are Good, So Why Aren’t We
Delivering Value?
Kevin Brennan, VP Canadian Business Unit, Seilevel
October 2, 2015
IIBA DC BADD 2015

2. 47%
of unsuccessful projects fail to
meet their goals due to poor
requirements management
Poor requirements are a major source of project failure.
Source: PMI’s Pulse of the Profession: Requirements Management — A Core Competency for Project and Program Success,
August 2014

3. How can we improve the quality of requirements?
q Well written?
q Complete?
q Atomic?
q Testable?
q No ambiguous words?
q Coherent?
q Verified?
q Pass the quality checker?
q Glossary clear?
q Unique identifiers
q Consistent
q ..
q ..

4. VISUAL
MODELS
ARE BEHIND
ANY ROBUST SET OF
SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

5. Improve the quality of requirements with visual models.
27 mostly text-based requirements documents with 1490 requirements
Team partially retrofitted requirements with models to identify gaps
82 initial
models (poor
quality)
345 additional
models created
(partial
retrofitting)
178
requirements
new or
changed
requirements
12% of requirements had issues
and
Average 2 issues per model
Case Study from Seilevel Project

6. Requirements architecture ensures we bring it together.
User Stories
Acceptance Criteria
Existing System Screens
L2 Process Flows
L3 Process Flows
Reports
New System Screens
Data Dictionary
Ecosystem Map Business Data Diagram
DAR models
UI Flow
Org Chart
Linked in the Requirements Mapping Matrix

7. PROJECT SUCCESS
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
Met Business Intent On Time Within Budget Delivered Scope
Formal Process To Ensure Quality No Formal Process
Better requirements quality means better business outcomes.
Source: PMI’s Pulse of the Profession: Requirements Management — A Core Competency for Project and Program Success,
August 2014

8. Example: automated booths can speed up check-ins…

9. …or not.

10. “The worth,
importance or
usefulness of
something to a
stakeholder
within a
context.”
BABOK® v3
Value is delivered when a solution meets a stakeholder need.
Needs
Value
Solu+ons
Changes
ContextStakeholders

11. Exploration Investment Delivery Realization Elimination
Business value is delivered when a solution meets a business need.
Strategy
Project/Program
Realize Business
Value
Identify Business Value

12. Business analysis is critical to ensure we…
…so that programs and projects deliver business value!
Use strategy
to screen out
projects that
don’t support
our goals
Make
investment
decisions with
objective
chains
Explore a
range of ideas
to ensure we
don’t miss
opportunities
Define business
objectives to
link problems
and features

13. We need to be able to quantify and measure value delivery.
Example
Increase sales by $10M
over a one year period
without adding new sales
representatives.
Define business benefit that an
organization expects to receive
Usually increase revenue or cut costs

14. 0
5
10
15
20
25
Use measurable business benefits to
prioritize between projects
Biz stakeholders select projects with most
meausrable benefits
Biz stakeholders select features contribute
the most benefits
strongly disagree disagree neither agree strongly agree
Stakeholders struggle to connect business value to features.
Business does
reasonably
well selecting
projects
But not as
good at
selecting
features
Source: Seilevel Customer Survey

15. BAs ensure we work on the right projects and features.
Understand
business
objectives
Assess the
value of
features
Cut what isn’t
necessary
Understand
business
objectives
Assess the
value of
projects
Cut what isn’t
necessary

16. We can connect products and features to problems.
BUSINESS
PROBLEM
BUSINESS
OBJECTIVE
PRODUCT
CONCEPT
FEATURES
Features may
have changed
Product Concept
may have changed
PRODUCT
CONCEPT
FEATURES

17. Business Objective 2
Provide training
to 100% of
sales team
Projects don’t always have to tackle the ultimate goal.
Business Problem 1
Sales team
not selling
enough
products
Business Objective 1
Increase
sales by
$10 million
Product
Concept
Online
Training
Business Problem 2
Sales team
doesn’t
understand
products
Download
Training
Training
Surveys

18. Objective chains assess the value per feature.
Objective Factor
Business Objective
Objective Factor
Objective Factor
Objective Factor
Objective
Equations
Data
Needs
Features
Features
Evaluate the value of
features or sets of
features

19. Current state & Assumptions:
1000 sales reps
600 take training today
90% pass tests if trained
25% pass tests if not trained
640 pass tests today
$200/day more sales if trained
Often, a few features produce most of the value.
Increasing # sales reps who passed
tests increases sales
Increase Revenue
Taking training before tests
increases # passed tests
DOWNLOADABLE
TRAINING
ONLINE
TRAINING
835 pass tests now
(90% of 900 + 25% of 100)
$39K increase in sales
($200 x 195 new passed
tests) Providing training options
outside classroom increases
participation
Providing online training
increases
# of reps taking training
Providing offline training
increases
# of reps taking training
Participation increases by
2%
Feature value = $2.6K
300 more reps
take training
(30% of 1000)
Participation increases
by 30%
$39,000/day
$2,600/day

20. Inspection and adaption are critical for business success.
• Business objectives focus
• Cut minimal value projects and features
• Link requirements to business objectives
• Measure and improve
Good Practices for Delivering Value
Good practices Measure
results

21. Customer
creates cart
Customer
contacts call
center
Customer edits
cart live with
Rep
Rep edits cartRep imports cart
Customer
completes sale
online
Rep completes
sale
Rep exports cart
to Customer
Business Objective: Increase sales by $14M;
on-time launch critical
Customer
creates cart
Customer
contacts call
center
Customer edits
cart live with
Rep
Rep edits cartRep imports cart
Customer
completes sale
online
Rep completes
sale
Rep exports cart
to Customer
X X
X
$12M
$2M
$250K
Here’s the difference it makes.
•Shared cart had to launch by holiday season to achieve any ROIProblem
•Missing deadline would net $0, ROI (potential ROI was $14M)Risk
•Seilevel analysis revealed scope would lead to $0M and cut scope to
achieve $12M ROISolution

22. Remember that requirements are a means to an end.

23. www.seilevel.com
Search: Seilevel, Kevin Brennan
@Seilevel @bakevin
www.facebook.com/Seilevel
Kevin.Brennan@seilevel.com
647.691.3473
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