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The Enhancement Process. David Stephenson . PowerPlay Product Management. “When is my enhancement going to be put into the product?”. “What happens to the Enhancements?”. “When do Enhancements get reviewed?”. “How do I log an enhancement request?”. “Enhancement or Bug?”. Agenda.
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The Enhancement Process David Stephenson PowerPlay Product Management
“When is my enhancement going to be put into the product?” “What happens to the Enhancements?” “When do Enhancements get reviewed?” “How do I log an enhancement request?” “Enhancement or Bug?”
Agenda • The development cycle • Enhancements – fact or fiction? • The Good, the Bad and the Ugly …. • Possible Enhancements • A Series 7 Example • Q&A
Agenda • The development cycle • Enhancements – fact or fiction? • The Good, the Bad and the Ugly …. • Possible Enhancements • A Series 7 Example • Q&A
Ideas Product Product Lifecycle … typically 1 year in length … planning begins during prior beta
Ideas An idea • What? • Enhancements, competitive advantage, new market, “bright shiny thing” • Key Contributors? • Anyone! • Produces? • Collected and collated into a Concept document aimed at a particular release • Looked after by? • Product management
Ideas Requirements To requirements • What? • Features, education, publications, OEM, Localization, conformance • Key Contributors? • Customers, development, marketing, sales, market trends, etc. • Produces? • Requirements document(s) which describe the problem to be solved - called MRD • By? • Product manager
Ideas Explore, spec, estimate Through exploration • What? • Clarification of requirements, explore options • Key Contributors? • Product manager, architect, developer, UI designer, development manager, customers • Produces? • Varied - often a functional specification and/or project schedule
Ideas Negotiation & Tradeoffs Reality strikes • What? • Release schedule definition - RTM date • Key Contributors? • Product manager, development manager, release manager, publications, localization, etc. • Produces? • A schedule, updated requirement(s)
Test and Verification Design, Implementation & Unit Test Flurries of activities • What? • Build and test the product • Key Contributors? • Product manager, development, quality control, build team, publications, UI team, etc. • Produces? • A product that meets the requirements and some prioritized defects
Ideas Requirements Explore, spec, estimate Test and Verification Negotiation & Tradeoffs Design, Implementation & Unit Test Not linear
Ideas Requirements Explore, spec, estimate Ship Product Test and Verification Design, Implementation & Unit Test Negotiation & Tradeoffs And to our Customers ...
Agenda • The development cycle • Enhancements – fact or fiction? • The Good, the Bad and the Ugly …. • Possible Enhancements • A Series 7 Example • Q&A
Great Urban Myths • The “Plastic Bag” rumor ….. • Enhancements are not reviewed • Shouting loud will ensure an enhancement is included • Bugs and enhancements are the same • There is no point in logging enhancements
How to Log Enhancements • SupportWeb • Client self-logged enhancements • User friendly UI • All Information is Key! • Business Justification • Let’s take a look …..
Agenda • The development cycle • Enhancements – fact or fiction? • The Good, the Bad and the Ugly …. • Possible Enhancements • A Series 7 Example • Q&A
The Ugly (well not quite …..) Product Management use “Doors” (Requirements Database): ““Understand what users want before attempting to create solutions”
The Ugly (well not quite …..) Doors (Requirements): For each requirement ask the question: • Is it correct? (possible, do-able) • Is it complete? (not just words) • Is it clear? (not confusing) • Is it consistent? (no conflict) • Is it verifiable? (the ‘fast’ factor) • Is it traceable? (unique) • Is it feasible? ;-)
The Ugly (well not quite …..) Doors (Requirements): Guidelines for enhancements: • Define one at a time • Avoid conjunctions (multiples) • Avoid let-out clauses (unless, except) • Use simple, direct sentences • Define verifiable criteria • Focus on the result to be provided • Use a simple vocabulary • Identify the type of user for each item
Ugly or not? “The fire alarm shall always be sounded when smoke is detected, unless the alarm is being tested or the engineer has suppressed the alarm”
What makes a good enhancement? • A clear business case • Objective • Clear test case of the problem ….. And the proposed solution • A “world view” • Involvement of the field/support • Time is everything
What makes a good enhancement? “Ability to have a better (simpler navigation) UI on UNIX” “Simple aim – benefits many”
What makes a good enhancement? “Customer would like CQ to export to PDF” “Straight forward, doesn't propose a how to”
What makes a good enhancement? “Should have the ability to specify page orientation in rendering report when publishing from PowerPlay client to Upfront” “Exact, clear – concise – business meaning?”
What makes a poor enhancement? • Subjective viewpoint • “The product crashes” • Fix a bug • Will affect other functionality • Poor timescale
What makes a poor enhancement? (#2) • Packaging Requests • Bespoke Requests
What makes a poor enhancement? “Is there a method to allow the client to customize their chart colors in CQ charts and graphs?” “This is asking a question because originally was an info request. Should be a statement. Typically calls, bugs, info requests that are changed to enhancements need reworking prior to log an enhancement.”
What makes a poor enhancement? “Distributed Install - User can write to another machines CQ Datastore regardless of security and machine boundaries. The Architect machine, sotacqqc9a was preparing to publish in the Upfront server host machine drop down in the publish wizard (as per enclosed file) the appropriate Upfront server sotacqqc4 was selected. In the CQ Datastore host drop down a completely independent machine, sotacqqc8 was selected (note that sotacqqc8 is an independent stand alone machine used for acceptance testing which points to another directory server and has no relationship to the distributed machines whatsoever). The user could successfully publish their package, and log on to Upfront and see the Newsitems published however when they attempted to run a query the receive an error message that the data base model could not be read (because it was written to someone else's Datastore, which should not be allowed!!!).”
What makes a poor enhancement? “Can I have a package which is Windows’ gateways, and just the real server things on UNIX but do not give me any UNIX gateways" “Changing packaging involves MAJOR changes to documentation, builds, Inventory - in fact all departments. This is not one we would entertain lightly”
Agenda • The development cycle • Enhancements – fact or fiction? • The Good, the Bad and the Ugly …. • Possible Enhancements • A Series 7 Example • Q&A
Possible Enhancements • Current Pool: • 450 current “possibles” • Exclude the duplicates • Find the business justification • Grouped in spreadsheet by Themes • Will be reviewed by development, field, marketing etc …..
Reviewed & Carried forward to next stage Enhancement Description Bold; multi-customer Enhancement No Possible Enhancements
Possible Enhancements • Common Themes Found: • Openness, EnhancedReporting, • Web Parity, • Scalability (Cube Builds) • Identified by: • Enhancement Requests “Top X” from Trakker • Conversations with Cognos Marketing • Field/Customer consultations & Corp Visits • Current Field Sales Need • Product Management Experience • Analysts
V2.X 10K V4.X 50K V5.X 100K V6.5 500K V6.61/EPS7 Est 4M Possible Enhancements - Transformer • Bigger Cubes • More Categories …..
Agenda • The development cycle • Enhancements – fact or fiction? • The Good, the Bad and the Ugly …. • Possible Enhancement • A Series 7 Example • Q&A
Enhancements and Series 7 • Enterprise BI Quality is mission critical • Common User Experience • Integration, Management and Collaboration • Reporting, Query & OLAP • Shared BI Meta Data and Data Modeling • Common Service Components • User Authentication, Data Access, Server Configuration, Deployment • Large Scale, International Ready UNIX and Windows Platforms “Make it Stable, High Quality, Usable, Easy to install and configure”
PowerPlay Web Enhancements • Request: “The ability to create custom exceptions on the web and to share custom exceptions between the web and desktop” • Benefit: Enhanced Parity, Wider user base, multi-client need • Result: Custom Web Exceptions ü Clear Business Case? ü Clear Objective? ü World View? ü Time of request?
PowerPlay Web Enhancements • Custom exception highlighting: • Full ability to create custom exceptions from PWE • Exceptions can be shared between web, client and PDF reports • Fully dynamic
Web Explorer Client Desktop Client PDF PowerPlay Web Enhancements • Desktop/Web Exception Lifecycle
Agenda • The development cycle • Enhancements – fact or fiction? • The Good, the Bad and the Ugly …. • Possible Enhancements • A Series 7 Example • Q&A
Thank You ….. Confidential