The Requirement Continuum

2. The Requirement Continuum by Stewart Mednick President Emeritus IIBA Minneapolis St. Paul Chapter

3. Requirement Continuum An iterative requirement lifecycle Functional Decomposition Process Flow Feature Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria User Story User Story Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria User Story Acceptance Criteria

4. The Hedgehog Concept Are you a hedgehog or a fox? In his famous essay “The Hedgehog and the Fox,” Isaiah Berlin divided the world into hedgehogs and foxes, based upon an ancient Greek parable: “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.”

5. The Hedgehog Concept is developed in the Jim Collins’ book “Good to Great.” • A simple, crystalline concept that flows from deep understanding about the intersection of three circles: • what you are deeply passionate about, • what you can be the best in the world at, and • what best drives your economic or resource engine.

6. with a Hedgehog Concept: • Transformations from good to great come about by a series of good decisions made consistently; supremely well executed, accumulating one upon another over a long period of time.

7. Collins defines the Hedgehog Concept as such: “All good-to-great leaders, it turns out, are hedgehogs. They know how to simplify a complex world into a single, organizing idea — the kind of basic principle that unifies, organizes, and guides all decisions….

8. Collins defines the Hedgehog Concept as such: • …That’s not to say hedgehogs are simplistic. Like great thinkers, who take complexities and boil them down into simple, yet profound ideas (Adam Smith and the invisible hand, Darwin and evolution), leaders of (in) good-to-great companies develop a Hedgehog Concept that is simple but that reflects penetrating insight and deep understanding.”

9. BA Hedgehog What are you deeply passionate about: BA Education and Knowledge What you can be the best in the world at: Product Development (Macro Level) What drives your economic engine: Process Rigor

10. BA Hedgehog What are you deeply passionate about: BA Education and knowledge What you can be the best in the world at: Requirement Development (Micro Level) What drives your economic engine: Process Rigor

11. BA Hedgehog BA Education, Knowledge and execution Good Process Repeatability Success Product Development, testing and implementation Process Development, Rigor and execution Good Product

12. BA Hedgehog BA Education, Knowledge and execution Good Process Repeatability Success Requirement Development, testing and implementation Process Development, Rigor and execution Good Product

13. Transformations from good to great come about by a series of good decisions made consistently with a Hedgehog Concept, supremely well executed, accumulating one upon another, over a long period of time. • The Requirement Continuum is a tool to be used to help execute supremely well.

14. Syllogism: To make good decisions, good (relevant) questions need to be asked. To determine what questions are relevant, the purpose of why a question needs to be asked is known. The reason a purpose exists, is because a business need has to be fulfilled. What is that business need?

15. Requirement Continuum An iterative requirement lifecycle Functional Decomposition Process Flow Feature Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria User Story User Story Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria User Story Acceptance Criteria

16. Requirement Continuum An iterative requirement lifecycle • Insert Solution Architect • Insert System Analyst • Insert Implementation Team • Insert Waterfall jargon Functional Decomposition Process Flow Feature Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria User Story User Story Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria User Story Acceptance Criteria

17. Requirement Continuum An iterative requirement lifecycle • Insert Solution Architect • Insert System Analyst • Insert Implementation Team • Insert Waterfall jargon Functional Decomposition Will define the feature on the lowest level of the Functional Decomposition; business domain Process Flow Feature Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria User Story User Story Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria User Story Acceptance Criteria

18. Functional Decomposition

19. Requirement Continuum An iterative requirement lifecycle • Insert Solution Architect • Insert System Analyst • Insert Implementation Team • Insert Waterfall jargon Functional Decomposition Functional Review or Exploratory Testing to find errors or impact issues Process Flow Feature Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria User Story User Story Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria User Story Acceptance Criteria

20. Requirement Continuum An iterative requirement lifecycle • Insert Solution Architect • Insert System Analyst • Insert Implementation Team • Insert Waterfall jargon Functional Decomposition Process Flow Feature Delivery Team Develops the process; QA validates (verify process) and tests. Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria User Story User Story Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria User Story Acceptance Criteria

21. Requirement Continuum An iterative requirement lifecycle • Insert Solution Architect • Insert System Analyst • Insert Implementation Team • Insert Waterfall jargon Functional Decomposition Check and balance for structural design; traceability Process Flow Feature Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria User Story User Story Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria User Story Acceptance Criteria

22. Requirement Continuum An iterative requirement lifecycle • Insert Solution Architect • Insert System Analyst • Insert Implementation Team • Insert Waterfall jargon Functional Decomposition Check and balance for structural design; traceability Will define the feature on the lowest level of the Functional Decomposition; business domain Process Flow Functional Review or Exploratory Testing to find errors or impact issues Feature Acceptance Criteria Delivery Team Develops the process; QA validates (verify process) and tests. Acceptance Criteria User Story User Story Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria Acceptance Criteria User Story Acceptance Criteria

23. Requirement Continuum Key Points: • The Requirement Continuum will present a Requirement Development Life Cycle that can be used in an Agile or Waterfall environment. • Starting initially with a Functional Decomposition of the system (or capability) being analyzed or developed, taking the decomposition to the Feature level. • These features will then be further developed by user stories that will provide acceptance criteria for the guardrails of what is considered complete and successful.

24. Requirement Continuum Key Points: • QA will validate and test the process in a prototype environment, and when validated, the delivery team can develop. • The development time frame represents the end of sprint. Each sprint is defined by the user stories developed. Now more features can be created, more user stories will define the features, and the cycle continues until the project is complete; • Thus, a requirement continuum. • Implementing this process will provide consistency every time a requirement set is needed to be created.

25. Business Analysis is not absolute. There are no laws or legal precedence for what is considered proper business analysis. There is only a ‘suggested’ guideline; the BABOK. This is shaped and molded by the minds that contributed to its development. However, we can influence as well by creating a transcendent idea that frames a meaningful design, and establishes a compelling force in Business Analysis.

26. The End Questions? Or: Comments, Philosophical observations, Theoretical perspectives, Contentious objections, thought provoking contributions, or simply applauds of approval!