tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12698486430335739842024-03-05T07:46:04.539-08:00Open TalkA discussion on the state of collaboration and communication in the workplace.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269848643033573984.post-58461903187527799942011-05-23T19:29:00.001-07:002011-05-23T19:29:13.508-07:00Scrum be damned...<div class="Amp_Commentary_Wrap"><div class="Amp_Post_Text"><p>Tobias Meyer's always interesting take on things Agile... Thinking people have moved beyond Scrum...</p></div></div><div class=" ClipTheme notepad"><div class="Amp_Content_Outer"><div class="Amp_Top_Wrap"><div class="Amp_Source_First"><span>Amplify’d from <a rel="clipsource" target="_blank" title="http://agileanarchy.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/scrum-enough-already/" href="http://agileanarchy.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/scrum-enough-already/">agileanarchy.wordpress.com</a></span></div></div><div class="Amp_Middle_Wrap"><blockquote class="Amp_Content_Item" cite="http://agileanarchy.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/scrum-enough-already/"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div class="TxtCntnt"><p id="AutoGeneratedID-0">I reckon it was was my trip to LSSC11 in Long Beach, that caused this jolt in my thinking, this awakening. The experience acted as a catalyst, fusing my conflicting perspectives into a cohesive whole. To my delight I spent my two days of (let’s be honest) conference-freeloading engaged with inspired and inspiring groups of people, seeking new ways of thinking about the world, exploring, laughing, leaping paradigms and manifestos, and not wasting time talking about whether Kanban is better than Scrum, or visa-versa — in fact hardly talking about Scrum, or Kanban, or Lean at all… or even systems or software. The conversations were about people, and collaboration, and organizational structures, and complexity, and brain function, and starfish, and exploration, and improvement, and love, and kindness, and compassion… and even supplication.</p></div><span class="Amp_Source_Button"><a rel="clipsource" target="_blank" title="http://agileanarchy.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/scrum-enough-already/" href="http://agileanarchy.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/scrum-enough-already/">Read more at agileanarchy.wordpress.com</a></span></td></tr></table></blockquote></div><div class="Amp_Bottom_Wrap"> </div></div></div><div class="Amp_Link">See this Amp at <a href="http://amplify.com/u/a13tih">http://amplify.com/u/a13tih</a></div><br/>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269848643033573984.post-41888214493267676812011-01-26T20:32:00.000-08:002011-01-26T20:32:06.631-08:00Good Attitude - getting the best from everyoneIn a requirements workshop we are always faced with a variety of participants, some of them are motivated, interested, others may not care to be there, yet others tell you that nothing works and so on.<br />
<br />
I was shown a simple useful model a few years ago that i often try to apply in these situations to steer the group towards - for want of a better term - <b>Good Attitude</b>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhalrKoDFzSvsWG2-57uXXRf55nRAo_RRzCQihDBICHXQPgedO_Xv-vEYKg8tIRXvWx5jiUdyaT-vipnQFTk3CNzKNRm1O7xJSYmnV3AVKLyRLnb9QH7v0RLYV6pAYGzM8pRYQi7vqPMNzl/s1600/empathy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhalrKoDFzSvsWG2-57uXXRf55nRAo_RRzCQihDBICHXQPgedO_Xv-vEYKg8tIRXvWx5jiUdyaT-vipnQFTk3CNzKNRm1O7xJSYmnV3AVKLyRLnb9QH7v0RLYV6pAYGzM8pRYQi7vqPMNzl/s320/empathy.JPG" /></a></div><br />
There are 2 axes ...<br />
<br />
<b>x:</b> apathetic (lazy, directionless) through to goal-oriented (motivated, productive)<br />
<br />
<b>y:</b> empathetic (friendly, encouraging) through to hostile (sarcastic, arrogant, cold, cynical, pessimist)<br />
<br />
... each representing a dimension of behaviour as a continuum.<br />
<br />
We end up with 4 areas, quadrants ...<br />
<ul><li>empathetic & goal-oriented</li>
<li>empathetic & apathetic</li>
<li>hostile & goal-oriented</li>
<li>hostile & apathetic</li>
</ul>... and broadly speaking we can categorize people into one of them.<br />
Some (extreme stereotype) examples:<br />
<ul><li>Delivery driven but impatient - project managers sometimes (goal driven/hostile)</li>
<li>The cynic - What's the point? It won't work. (apathetic/hostile)</li>
<li>The friendly joker - everybody loves him (empathetic/doesn't deliver)<br />
<li>The positive, friendly, engaged solution seeker. (That's you, right?)</li><br />
</ul>The goal is to foster and promote behaviour, to guide, encourage, gently coax people toward the upper right quadrant - empathetic/goal-oriented.<br />
<br />
Easier said than done, i know.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269848643033573984.post-62465090468936699762010-12-11T16:40:00.000-08:002010-12-11T16:55:54.696-08:00Project management - beyond the iron triangle<p>As business analysts we are often up against the project management iron triangle.</p><p>Although we often clearly identify important requirements that the project should realize, the scope-time-money mantra has already fixed the deliverable in stone.</p><p>Here is <a href="http://www.jimhighsmith.com/2010/11/14/beyond-scope-schedule-and-cost-the-agile-triangle/">an interesting article</a> from Jim Highsmith. In it he collapses the traditional overarching concerns of scope-schedule-cost into <b>constraints</b>, placed at one corner of a new triangle that elevate the role of value and quality. It "alters how we view success."<br />
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN1dBrG5xZHRaLOY7HF9Tqn3S9Q9NQ2rTGwnFGS7TgiEYdPn0xifPHpV-Sj-sdV6DbbnltvbUngoTg4oNqXHgYjceB6Rp53tdUHYZC6XlLQBXjfEkhZI6qFNSNyHUmc4T23VZqVH1wIt_k/s1600/IronTriangle.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN1dBrG5xZHRaLOY7HF9Tqn3S9Q9NQ2rTGwnFGS7TgiEYdPn0xifPHpV-Sj-sdV6DbbnltvbUngoTg4oNqXHgYjceB6Rp53tdUHYZC6XlLQBXjfEkhZI6qFNSNyHUmc4T23VZqVH1wIt_k/s1600/IronTriangle.bmp" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269848643033573984.post-66453691797910379722010-10-23T17:22:00.000-07:002010-10-23T17:29:26.543-07:00Requirements prioritization with UserVoiceA day in the life of the business analyst:<br />
We have a set of requirements and are ready to prioritize them. We hope to consult all relevant stakeholders and engage them in a collaborative effort.<br />
<br />
Rating scales are often used, for example Mandatory, Important, Desirable etc.. but so often everything ends up mandatory.<br />
<br />
UserVoice demonstrates an innovative approach to polling for prioritization. Each user only has a limited number of votes to cast. The <a href="https://uservoice.com/differentiators">UserVoice website</a> speaks of "spending votes". You are forced to spend wisely, so to speak, to focus on what is most important.<br />
<br />
<a href="#" onclick="UserVoice.Popin.show(uservoiceOptions); return false;">Here's an example</a> where i want the BA community to give me topic preferences from an initial list for upcoming OpenTalk meetings; and add their own if they like. <br />
<br />
<script type="text/javascript">
var uservoiceOptions = {
key: 'opentalk',
host: 'opentalk.uservoice.com',
forum: '82875',
lang: 'en',
showTab: false
};
function _loadUserVoice() {
var s = document.createElement('script');
s.src = ("https:" == document.location.protocol ? "https://" : "http://") + "cdn.uservoice.com/javascripts/widgets/tab.js";
document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(s);
}
_loadSuper = window.onload;
window.onload = (typeof window.onload != 'function') ? _loadUserVoice : function() { _loadSuper(); _loadUserVoice(); };
</script>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269848643033573984.post-490334154648791392010-01-11T00:30:00.000-08:002010-01-11T00:32:24.456-08:00The intranet is dead, long live the intranet!Working with a client more than a year ago on an information management requirement, i tried hard to avoid usage of the term intranet, because, as implemented at the time, it was little more than a thin wrapper around a set of shared network data drives. There was also a long menu of entry points into various legacy applications that grew as web services proliferated out of control.<br />
<br />
More recently i have seen the same thing elsewhere, in this case, a leaky wrapper that is easily bypassed by anyone who knows the share names and how to connect to a network drive...<br />
<br />
So i have promoted the use of different terms, or phrases, like "shared information portal" or "internal information services", clumsy stuff i know. The term intranet just carries so much currency, it is difficult to supplant, even though its meaning becomes less distinct by the day.<br />
<br />
Today i came across a <a href="http://www.netjmc.net/globally_local/2010/01/workplace-web-3-models.html">useful post</a> from Jane McConnell (by way of Step Two) that shows the way forward. It also refers to <a href="http://netjmc.typepad.com/globally_local/2009/04/web-workplace---a-new-word-for-intranet.html">an earlier post</a> that relates efforts to replace the term intranet with something better.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269848643033573984.post-23527936320853186342010-01-05T13:31:00.000-08:002010-01-05T14:03:06.796-08:00we do agile...... yeah right.<br />
Here's a quote from James Shores' blog, <a href="http://jamesshore.com/Blog/Introduction-to-Agile-for-QA-People.html">The Art of Agile</a>, that sums up the reality.<br />
<blockquote><i>"At the risk of ending on a downer, the vast majority of shops that say they're doing 'Agile' do nothing of the sort. Instead, they use the terminology without actually following the underlying ideas. For example, teams will plan in 'Sprints' but <a href="http://jamesshore.com/Blog/The-Decline-and-Fall-of-Agile.html">not actually produce shippable software</a> every month. So don't be surprised if nothing really changes except the terminology. Real change of the sort Agile needs requires willpower and commitment on the part of both managers and team members. That's <a href="http://jamesshore.com/Blog/Stumbling-Through-Mediocrity.html">easier to fake</a> than supply."</i><br />
</blockquote>That <i>is</i> pessimistic!<br />
<br />
I haven't had enough work experience here to make any informed comment about the agile scene in NZ. The buzz is loud, and i've been assured that some of the <a href="http://myopentalk.blogspot.com/2009/09/people-challenge.html">cultural obstacles</a> i have observed in the RSA are less of a problem here. I can't help thinking though that commonalities of behaviour are more likely. James Shore is probably speaking of the US, it resonates strongly with what i have heard in the RSA, are the Kiwis really that different? Consider for example the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tall_poppy">tall poppy syndrome</a> which quite a few folk tell me remains prevalent here. That's only sand in the agile machinery.<br />
<br />
Let's see what experiences and observations the new year has to offer.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269848643033573984.post-57536730197306323942010-01-05T13:11:00.000-08:002010-01-05T13:28:04.903-08:00publish subscribe redux...I remember, around 10 years ago, first reading some of the documents describing Old Mutuals hub-and-spoke architecture including the publish-subscribe pattern. Later i did bits of application programming using the developed infrastructure to collect information from disparate source information repositories. This was MQSI, before it was all rebranded into the Websphere product family.<br />
Fast forward to the 2009 Tech Crunchie award nominees. This slideshow outlines one of the entries, PubSubHubbub. <br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="451" src="http://docs.google.com/present/embed?id=ajd8t6gk4mh2_34dvbpchfs&size=m" width="555"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1262723644390"><br />
</a><br />
<a href="http://code.google.com/p/pubsubhubbub/">Here's the project</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269848643033573984.post-91954816757549281512010-01-04T17:00:00.000-08:002010-01-05T14:02:18.283-08:00More on collaboration<a href="http://www.pebbleroad.com/articles/view/the-culture-of-collaboration-and-what-it-means-for-your-intranet/">This post</a> from <a href="http://www.pebbleroad.com/">PebbleRoad</a> echoes comments i made in my <a href="http://myopentalk.blogspot.com/2009/09/people-challenge.html">first post</a> - <i>the technology is the lesser challenge</i> - and also provides a useful model of organizational attributes and how they work for or against the success of intranet initiatives. The comments are also great, especially the observation regarding the semantic tension between the words <i>collaboration </i>and <i>culture</i>. I quote:<br />
<blockquote>"In mixing the terms collaboration and culture, you’ve got something funny going on. Culture is about shared values. Collaboration, as defined by people like Barbara Grey, is about people coming together with different cultures, constructively exploring their differences and seeking a shared solution. <br />
In many ways, collaboration culture is about agreeing to disagree or acknowledging how difference is good—your perspective and my perspective aren’t the same. And that’s what will make us successful" <br />
</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269848643033573984.post-87882887116372263062009-12-19T18:08:00.000-08:002010-01-05T13:35:30.231-08:00Intranet ChallengesA great talk (and some slides) describing the evolution of intranets. <a href="http://www.steptwo.com.au/">Step Two Design.</a> Aussies again!<br />
<div id="__ss_350534" style="text-align: left; width: 425px;"><object height="355" style="margin: 0px;" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=s2dsixphases-1208091381555312-8&stripped_title=the-six-phases-of-intranet-evolution-includes-audio" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><embed src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=s2dsixphases-1208091381555312-8&stripped_title=the-six-phases-of-intranet-evolution-includes-audio" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br />
<div style="font-family: tahoma,arial; font-size: 11px; height: 26px; padding-top: 2px;">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" style="text-decoration: underline;">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/jamesr" style="text-decoration: underline;">James Robertson</a>.<br />
</div></div>I'm ogling their content management requirements toolkit, but at 550AUD a pop i'd better have a good business case ;-). No wait, they've got one lined up <a href="http://www.steptwo.com.au/products/toolkit/case">right here</a>...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269848643033573984.post-79316432126586860282009-11-02T19:24:00.000-08:002009-11-02T19:51:15.136-08:00start again...... as my friend James <a href="http://breachofpremise.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/hello-world/">put it recently</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>This mini post is just a link to a great post that makes plenty of constructive points regarding the <a href="http://www.anecdote.com.au/archives/2008/03/collaboration_c_1.html">collaboration culture and how to foster it</a>. Refreshingly there is no reference to <i>social media</i>, <i>agile</i> or <i>Web 2.0.</i> Hats off, even though they're Aussies.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bOZWM5pbyh0/Su-oUpYNw9I/AAAAAAAAAAM/Ssaf0ToAuvo/s1600-h/wink.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bOZWM5pbyh0/Su-oUpYNw9I/AAAAAAAAAAM/Ssaf0ToAuvo/s320/wink.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><br />
In fact, i like their site so much it's been added to the blogroll.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269848643033573984.post-61447194072740799352009-09-13T15:41:00.000-07:002010-01-05T14:01:23.787-08:00the people challenge<div id="ext-gen167">During a recent business analysis assignment (elicit, analyse and document user requirements for an internal information sharing service) i was struck yet again by the vast gap between technology offerings and the readiness, willingness, ability of people to take advantage of them.<br />
</div><div id="ext-gen167">The tools required to embark on an information sharing and management initiative are out there, freely available and easy to use <br />
</div><ul><li id="ext-gen166">commenting and rating services can be embedded in your content to facilitate feedback (example JS-Kit)</li>
<li id="ext-gen166">there are survey and voting services aplenty (SurveyGizmo, UserVoice, your favourite here).</li>
<li id="ext-gen166">wikis ditto, take your pick</li>
<li id="ext-gen166">set up a blog in 2 minutes<br />
</li>
<li id="ext-gen165">tiddlywiki - our business requirement was originally developed using this, in addition to the content (the business requirement) the format demonstrates full text search, non-linear presentation, commenting and feedback, all of which the user community had very little, if any, experience<br />
</li>
<li id="ext-gen164">pbworks - used as a demo implementation of how the requirement could be realized </li>
<li id="ext-gen161">tangler - a discussion forum embedded in pbworks as part of the demonstration</li>
</ul><div id="ext-gen163">It's a mashup paradise!<br />
<br />
These examples are not meant as endorsements or final recommendations for adoption. They make the point that useful tools are easy to find, that the technology is by far the lesser challenge that faces us.<br />
</div><br />
The people that shall use these tools however, whether just as information consumers, or as content developers and administrators, are another matter entirely. And we are all pretty much in agreement on this. Resorting to the hoariest cliches, everyone knows that "<i>it's the people that make or break it</i>" and that "<i>without the people's buy-in</i>" our efforts are doomed to failure.<br />
<br />
Beyond that general agreement however we had little of substance to help us address the real challenge:<br />
<br />
<b>How do we bring about that crucial shift in attitude towards collaboration, towards sharing information? How do we begin to address the deeply entrenched behaviours that stand in the way?</b><br />
<br />
We are slaves to the many behaviours that define corporate social culture. Example: the reluctance to share knowledge, because knowledge is power and sharing it somehow weakens me. The idea of sharing and collaboration goes against the competitive urges that motivate us in the workplace. On the other hand, people are often reluctant to participate because they fear it will expose their ignorance, their vulnerabilities.<br />
Security policies in many corporate environments also keep their workers in the dark, isolated from relevant communities. Example Websense. It's as though people are not allowed to have telephones on their desk lest they use them to make private calls.<br />
<br />
What to do?<br />
<br />
Although these observations come from my experience working in two large corporates, i suspect they apply quite broadly across the corporate workplace. I am putting this topic up here in the hope of starting a useful debate that addresses this "<i>people challenge</i>"Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0