1. Avoiding the “Solution Illusion”
A Thin Slice of Problem Analysis
Adrian Reed
adrian.reed@blackmetric.co.uk
@UKAdrianReed

2. Covered today
• What is the “Solution Illusion”:
– Why does it matter?
– How might we know it’s
happening?
• How can we help stakeholders
to take a step back?
– Tools & Techniques
– The 1-page project concept

3. Q. How much does it cost to
implement a payroll system…?
•
•
•
•
•
And….NotProjection:
Original to forget….
AUD $6.13 Million (EUR 4.2 Million)
190 Manual workarounds
92,000 paper forms being processed every
fortnight Actual [inc op costs]
1,010 payroll AUD$ 1.5 Billionstaff)
staff (85,000 total
~3,400 staff receive overpayments each pay
(EUR 1,040,000,000)
period ($1.7M AUD / EUR 1.2 M)
2,500 customisations to “off the shelf” and “like
for like”Queensland Australia.
system

4. Some of the likely causes…
No clear statement
of problem
“A burning
platform” – the
illusion of only one
option
And a lot more!
Inadequate
“Simple sounding”
assessment of
solution driving the
complexity of
business
current situation

5. Sound familiar?

6. What you might hear when the
“Solution Illusion” is happening…
We don’t
have time for
any feasibility
work…
It’s off the shelf.. I
presume we won’t
need to worry
about analysis?
?
It’s a simple
IT-only
project

7. …not again…
We already know
what we want.
There’s no time for
any analysis!
Now go away
and deliver the
thing and stop
asking questions

8. A secret…
Don’t we all
think in
solutions?

9. Divergent and convergent thinking…
IDEA GENERATION
Maximise volume of
options
DEFINITION & SCOPING
Nail down definition
and scope

10. Problem Analysis:
Building the project foundations
Without
foundations,
cracks
appear…

11. Project concept summary:
A “thin slice” of why, what & how
WHY?
WHAT?
HOW?
Project concept summary

12. Pulling it all together
Problem Statement
Other
Requirements
Possible Solutions
Business Use
Case diagram
(Roles & Goals)
CSF / KPIs
Recommendation for
next steps

13. Problem Statement
The problem of…..
What problem
are we trying to
solve?
Is affecting….
The impact of which is….
A successful solution would….
Who are our
stakeholders?
Why should we
care?
What are the
benefits? How do
we know it’s
done?

14. Example: A mail-order retailer
1. Marketing team set
up new TV
advertisement
campaign to promote
a great new offer…
2. Customers love it
3. Customers REALLY love it!
4. Phone lines are
jammed

15. WE NEED MORE
PHONE LINES IN
OUR CALL
CENTRE!

16. Problem Statement:
“WE NEED MORE PHONE LINES!!”
The problem of congested and busy phone lines
Affects our customers and call centre staff
The impact of which is we lose potential sales…
as customers can’t get through
A successful solution would enable customers to
get information and make a purchase quickly
without holding, leading to increased revenues
(and profits)

17. Identifying CSFs and KPIs
Financial
Customer
Problem /
Opportunity
Innovation
“Sustain”
Internal
processes

18. Roles & Goals
ROLES
GOALS
Who has an interest
in the problem
domain/business
system?
What is each
stakeholder (role)
trying to achieve or
do?

19. Business Use Case Diagram
Symbol
Description
Business Actor
Outside organisational boundaries
Worker
Inside organisational boundaries
Business Use Case
Interaction within organisational boundaries
Communication
Shows interaction

20. Scope…
Categorise each business use case/goal
• Valid [out of scope]
• Existing [satisfied]
• Existing [Unchanged, Impacted]
• Existing [Partially satisfied/not
satisfied]:
• New [not satisfied]:

21. Other concept-level requirement types
Non-functional
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Reliability
Performance Efficiency
Usability
Security
Compatibility
Maintainability
Interoperability
Transferability
General
– Multi-language
– Multi-currency
– Multi-region
– Legal and Compliance

22. Solution options

23. Pulling it all together
Problem Statement
Other
Requirements
Possible Solutions
Business Use
Case diagram
(Roles & Goals)
CSF / KPIs
Recommendation for
next steps

24. WHY?
•
•
Problem
Statement
CSF/KPIs
WHAT?
•
•
•
Roles & goals
Business Use
Case diagram
Conceptual
requirements
HOW?
•
Solution
options
Project concept summary

25. From Concept Level Requirements To…
• System Use Case
• User Stories
• Process Modelling
• Data Modelling

27. Closing thoughts….
• Call out the ‘solution illusion’
and ‘magic bullets’
• Encourage an early problem
focus.
• Project concept summary can
be a useful guiding beacon

29. •
Where in your organisation are your business
analysts located ?
•
How are you adding value?
•
Where do you think the BA adds most value?
•
How do we measure that value?
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