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. f 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. f 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.
