Methods I would use to gather requirements for writing a sales software where the two
partners could not agree on what exactly the software should do:
1. I would do research on the current system and business. k The first thing I would do
is understand the business mission statement to understand the business goal and
what is important to the business. Next, I would research to see what sales software
they are using. In doing this I would look to understand the pros and cons of the
current system and why an upgrade is needed.
2. I would conduct an interview with both partners together. I would start the
interview off with verifying the business mission statement to help align the two
partners in what they want the new software to be. I would then review the current
system with them and understand what they like, don’t like and why they want a
new program. I would ask each partner to take turns on what they want the new
software program using the Moscow method. This would help me understand
where the common ground is and build off that. In the interview I would use the 5
Ws and the 1H.
Projects face risks of failure quite often. There are many reasons to classify a project as
risky. The two I will highlight are the lack of appropriate funding and stakeholders not
giving the project proper support. First, funding a project can sometimes be extremely
complicated. Even if a business believes they have funded a project fully, there are many
costs that can creep up unexpectedly. One of the major ones are change orders. For
example, a company has several integrations, but left an obscure yet important one out of
the scope of work. Usually adding the integration as a change order is not an issue, but
most change orders come with an additional cost. In addition to change orders, another
situation that can unexpectedly arise is the need for updated hardware or software. Perhaps
their current system runs on Windows 7, but the new build requires an upgrade to
Windows 10. Generally that would be an easy upgrade, but sometimes a new computer
terminal will also be needed to accommodate the operating system upgrade. Since lack of
proper funding can derail a project It is always wise to set aside additional funding. If the
money is not spent during the initial stages of the project it can be used for annual
maintenance or desired upgrades. The next risk is the lack of proper project support by
stakeholders. Stakeholders hold a great deal of power when it comes to the success of a
project. A lot of stakeholders are informal leaders and hold sway over others. If they
choose not to support the project, others will follow. this can impact every part of the
project from building to training to implementation. Each of those pieces need to be
appropriately supported in order to be successful.
The methods I would use to gather requirements would be interviewing stakeholders and
observation. Making sure all stakeholders have some involvement in the project will go a
long way to earning their support. Each stakeholder should have a voice, since an
administrator may have no idea what a front line user needs and vice versa. In order to get
a balanced view each position should be interviewed. Observation is necessary since seeing
how someone does their job can capture information that was overlooked in interviews.
Sometimes a user may do things out of habit or muscle memory and not realize there is a
functional requirement behind it. This is also a helpful way to verify the information
received in the interviews makes sense and clarify any gaps in the information. Software
engineering projects are driven by business needs. There are many different risks that can
arise in a software engineering project. The common risks include project scope changes,
technical challenges, schedule and budget overruns. In this scenario, the scope of the
project poses a risk to the entire project because the partners are not in agreement of what
the scope of the project should be. With the undefined / fluctuate scope, the project will
take longer to complete thus increase in cost for the project will occur.
To gather information for this retail store sale software, interviewing and requirement
workshops would be appropriate for this situation. Interviewing stakeholders (store
partners, store manager and sale associates) to gather information about their needs and
expectations for the software application. This method is useful because the project team
can obtain valuable insights that can be used to build the features and functionality that are
most important to the store for the application. k Requirement workshops would bring the
stakeholders together along with the project team to discuss and identify the requirements
for the software application and working toward a detail information/scope of the project
that would be aligned with the needs of the store and its customers. I would have to say
that project risk management is a process of managing risks associated with projects. It
involves identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks. Some of the common types of project
risk are project scope change, budget change or resource availability change. Risk
management is an important part of project planning and execution to ensure that risks are
minimized as much as possible. When it comes to scope change the stakeholders may have
different ideas comparing to what you have for the project. If you and the stakeholders
can’t come to an agreement, then the project that you plan to work with would not be
completed. Therefore, you need to be able to figure out what to discuss and how you and
the stakeholders can come to an agreement. It’s much easier to defend decisions and keep
scope in check when you’ve documented and agreed upon project deliverables before work
begins says .Knowing what risks to watch out for and how you’ll address them can go a
long way in easing anxiety for everyone involved in the project. Two ways that I would
use to gather requirements are document analysis and observation. Frequently overlooked,
document analysis is another highly effective technique for gathering requirements. One of
the best ways to understand what users truly need is to observe them performing their
daily tasks. By observing end users in the real context in which they perform their tasks,
you’ll gain a true understanding of what they are up against and what improvements they
need so they can perform better. You’ll then be better able to specify a system that
successfully reinvents users’ processes and grants them far greater productivity and
usability, rather than simply providing them an incremental improvement. Handling
requirements is another way of categorizing models. A Predictive Development model is
an advancement of thought on the needs before it is done. The design is based on the
requirements of the system and is used as a blueprint for the code to be written.
Sometimes it's hard to know what it needs and the materials to build it. Moreover, if the
developers aren't familiar with a technique to use, it is incompatible with the program to
work.An Adaptive Development model is a way to change the goals of the project during
development if it is necessary. This will reevaluate the changes in the design's direction
when the outset is not relevant enough. An example of this is watching a detective show. It
has a detective trying to find the killer, he/she has the necessary tools, and each time
he/she finds a clue, the direction becomes updated.
A Sashimi Development model also known as the SashimI Waterfall phase is just like the
Waterfall model but it can overlap the steps. There are three types of prototypes;
throwaway, evolutionary, and incremental type. A throwaway is a study of the system
being tossed out once it is gathered and then the developer writes the code from the
beginning based on that system. An evolutionary prototype is a type that describes the
application's features. During the process, refinement of the features is established, new
additions are replaced, and the finished app is based off of those new features. An
incremental is creating a collection of other types from the characteristics of their finished
version, a combination of the applications. It is easier for developers to work on individual
pieces from separate prototypes. Feature-Driven Development is both an iterative and
incremental model where large teams use risk, the value of customers, or the waste to
guide their development process at a higher level. The features listed in this build are
popularized and become added. It goes through five phases; develop a model, build a
feature list, plan by feature, design by feature, and then build by feature. Two partners
which are unaligned will derail the project, disappoint the customer, and ruin their
reputations. The partners should be able to communicate and collaborate effectively. These
risks can be unavoidable when the two partners have different visions, levels of
experience, expertise, and technical skills. One of the partners will dominate the other
partner and will hinder collaboration because they will have a different understanding of
the system requirements, tasks, and processes. Unaligned goals will be another risk for the
project. Both partners should have clear objectives for the project and the deliverables at
the end of the project.
One partner may have higher technical knowledge than the other partner. The more
experienced partner will lead in the development process, and this might inhibit the
learning experience of the other partner. To avoid these types of risks, both partners should
have similar levels of skills and experience so they can collaborate effectively on the
project.A lack of resources can cause significant problems for the software project.
Resources include the time, budget, and resources that are required to complete the project.
If one or both partners lack the required resources to complete the project, they will have
to make difficult sacrifices in order to complete the project on time.Two methods I'd use to
gather requirements for this project would be interviews or surveys. Interviews could be
done with key stakeholders to get the requirements from different perspectives. A survey
could be sent to customers to learn more about the requirements for this project. I would
use a combination of both methods to collect information for my software project. I would
also use workshops to gather more information from these key stakeholders and customers.
In this situation there are two partners that want this sales software, but they are unable to
agree on what it should do. That in itself is a risk for the project. One of the biggest risks
to software development is the purpose and need not being well defined. Be able to agree
on what the program should do falls under the purpose and need category and the
stakeholder risk. With these partners not agreeing they won't be able to execute the project
wisely. They become stakeholders in the project because they have the most interest in the
project succeeding and with them disagreeing it succeeding will become difficult. I would
start by doing stakeholder engagement because getting the partners to agree on what the
software should is important before any planning or development can be started. Even, if
it's just a very basic and simple idea to start with.This can be achieved in many different
ways by brainstorming, questionnaires, surveys, or presentations of various ways that the
software could work. Once we get them to agree then when can start documenting
requirements. The require are important because they can define the various features that
will be necessary, how many users will it need to support at a given time, and even where
and how they want to store customer information. I would generally do more than what is
described here, but I think this is a good place to start. For this weeks discussion topic of
two small sports equipment store partners not agreeing on what the proposed sales
software should look like or do, I'd run away from this project! Just kidding, but what a
mess. I wonder how their brick and mortar store is functioning, or not functioning. One
partner must be carrying the load to avoid conflict. Anyway, back to the question. One
reason this project if classified as a risky project would be by definition of a Waterfall
model having clear and well defined objectives. If the model needs to complete one step
before moving to the next step, they would never get past the first step of gathering what
the software should look like and do. High level design will never happen if the two
partners can not give you a clear picture of what they want. In the real world would it be
possible to give them a example of past working software's to agree upon? Another reason
this would be a risky project would be the possible conflict as the project continues or
nears completion and the partners see an example of their new sales software and not
liking what they see.So, two methods I would use to push this project along would be one
on one, or face to face interactions like brainstorming or group discussion. This would give
all parties some sence of urgency to get on the same page.
