I recently attended the BA World symposium in Sydney and was finally able to have a word to describe my current project environment - “agile environment”. the conventional approach to software development assumed that it was possible to identify all the requirements early and that costs could be managed by limiting changes once the specifications and requirements had been accepted and signed off by the business. However, as we all know, the environment out there is changing and that change is rapid.
Doug Boast from Monash IT spoke about RAD Tools and Techniques for the BA in an Agile Environment.
Doug stressed that in an agile environment, we need Agile software development methods to meet this challenge. We now need Software development methods that attempt to answer the eager business community’s need for lighter weight along with faster and nimbler software development processes.It was noted that this is especially the case with the rapidly growing and volatile Internet software industry as well as with the emerging mobile application environment.
This is certainly the case in my current engagement, not only is change anticipated, we expect it, embrace it and have tried to ensure our approach to requirement analysis and design is flexible and nimble.
My Information Architecture (and fellow blog) friends Matt, Andrew and I are using storyboarding and rapid prototyping to meet the changing needs of the business and get constant feedback to inform technical decisions and the need to build the system whilst still developing the system requirements. It is an iterative process with a fast turnaround of weeks and days (not months).
The real key to our success in navigating this agile environment has been teamwork and collaboration between the development, analyst and business teams. Without this interaction, between members, our project would not be progressing well with the project. Communication is so important and as an agile analyst, I believe this capability is a core skill in an agile environment.
Scope creep is annoying, but what is more annoying is doing all the business process maps and documentation in visio and word. The changes and flow-on affects of these changes then need to be manually changed in the documents.
I am currently looking at some software tools to support my current project so that I can have enhanced traceability and be able to quickly work out what requirements are impacted when a certain element changes (eg cannot now be delivered in this current release).
I am working in an agile environment where there is rapid change and the business needs are evolving and this needs to be manged. Requirements are never really complete until the project is finished as the needs of the business will inevitably change over the life of the project development. Telling the business “it is not in the spec” doesn’t solve the issue that they need this change.
In this type of environment it important to know the “ripple” effects of a change to a particular requirement (eg architecture, design, code, tests and deployment). What a first may be a minor change, can indeed be very costly.
Requirements management done well can help your project to deliver the benefits the business is looking for, without you having to get frustrated by the process. I am hoping that the tools we evaluate may help to support our requirements process and help to ensure we can adapt to the rapid changes required in this agile environment.
The WICked Woman of the Year Award seeks to recognise the amazing work done every day by women in the ICT industry. The WICked Woman Award is open to all women working in and making a significant contribution to the ICT industries in the
Canberra region.
The women nominated for the award in 2007 have all acted as role models or mentors for women in the ICT industry and have encouraged women into the industry.
At last night’s annual WIC in Winter Dinner, Lynette Johns-Boast was announced as the 2007 WICked Woman of the Year. Lynette has over 20 years industry experience and joined the ANU as an academic in 2003. She maintains close links with the ICT industry and has played an important role in bringing the
Canberra business community and ANU software engineering students together to help solve real-world ICT problems through project-based courses.
In 2006 Lynette hosted the inaugural ’software engineering showcase’ at ANU that was attended by many members of the local business community. In the same year she also established a mentoring group for female students studying software engineering at the ANU. This has since been extended to all computing students. The group is for first year and later year students and provides a forum for them to get advice and support from Lynette and to also establish their own support networks.
The proportion of female students studying computing degrees has fallen nationally and at ANU in the past few years. Lynette’s mentoring work, her engagement with the ICT industry through courses, and the support that Lynette has provided with College recruitment activities is important in assisting to arrest and reverse this trend. Lynette is an important role model for female students studying computing degrees and for those considering studying computing.
Congratulations Lynette, I believe she is a very worthy recipient of the WICked Woman of the Year Award.
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