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October 3, 2012
In This Issue

Sticky ToolLook
Interview
Agile Requirements
Management
with Derwyn Harris
What's Happening at
StickyMinds.com
Featured Tool
Jama Contour
Jama Software
Outside
the Toolbox
Olly: The Web-connected Smelly Robot
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Jama
Contour
Vendor: Jama
Software
1060 NW 9th Avenue, Portland, OR 97209
Phone: (800) 679-3058
Fax: (877) 665-8476
Tool URL: Click
here to learn more

Description:
Jama Contour is a specialized collaborative requirements management
solution that manages the details, decisions and ongoing discussions
that revolve around the requirements and test cases of a project.
Delivered through a lightweight, flexible and easy-to-use Web
application, Contour provides the core functionality needed for project
collaboration, requirements management, change management and test
management—including traceability, coverage, change control, test
plans, reporting and its unique Review Center for gaining buy-in with
stakeholders. Its main function is to connect everyone
together—from product executives and project managers to business
analysts, QA specialists and developers—and keep them in sync
through real-time discussions, revisions and collaborative decision
making. Contour ensures that plans and specifications are properly
managed and, when modified, communicated across distributed teams and
stakeholders instantly.
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Sticky
ToolLook Interview
Agile Requirements
Management with Derwyn Harris
Derwyn Harris is a co-founder at Jama Software, where he also serves as
a senior solutions architect. In this interview with the Sticky
ToolLook, he discusses how requirements management (RM) fits into agile
software development.
Sticky ToolLook: What
does poor RM look like on an agile project? Is it easy to spot early
on, or does it sneak up on you as the project progresses?
Derwyn Harris:
Actually, the most common indicator of poor RM in agile is the lack of
requirements. Many agile projects continue to operate under the myth
that requirements are too heavy and slow for agile and that agile
replaces RM altogether. They perceive RM as traditional, waterfall, and
outdated and, to be honest, they are not 100 percent wrong. The problem
is that the term "requirements management" needs to be redefined. In
many respects, RM is a broader view and should include agile as part of
the whole process.
It boils down to the social interaction between people and the data.
What we've seen in the past twelve years, since the creation of the
Agile Manifesto, is an evolution in how we interact. Social tools such
as Facebook have enhanced and expanded our ability to interact, which
is one of the main tenants of the Agile Manifesto. This visibility and
connection is the first step in recognizing the quality of your RM.
Once this is in place, you can better determine poor versus good RM and
adjust accordingly.
STL: How detailed should requirements be at
the start of an agile project? How malleable should they be from
iteration to iteration, or even within an iteration?
DH: Great
question! It highlights the exact thought process a team should go
through as part of integrating the overall RM process with agile. The
trick—and, oftentimes, the rub—is how heavy this process
becomes. There is no mathematical theorem that proves the exact level
of detail necessary. It depends greatly on the situation and type of
project. For example, some organizations receive an RFP that must be
answered completely before development begins at all. This requires a
much heavier level of effort around the requirements early on,
especially if the contract isn't even won yet.
On the other end of the spectrum, where the organization has complete
control over the requirements, there is a lot more flexibility. In
either case, the requirements should clarify the vision, helping the
engineering team understand the overall purpose of the project.
In my opinion, what is most important is that the requirements are
readily accessible, well communicated, and easily modified. Therefore,
if later in the project an event occurs that changes the initial vision
of the requirements, it is simple to see its impact and initiate a
conversation or notify those downstream of the change so that they can
react accordingly. This way, the requirements become more malleable
without becoming a burden.
STL: How is communication important to
the requirements process, and how can project members make sure that
their interactions are clear?
DH: Communication
is extremely important to every step of the requirements process.
Agile's biggest contribution to this idea is that communication and
interaction are critical to success. For this reason, many books and
methodologies have promoted the “one room” concept, where
everyone physically resides in the same room, thus encouraging
immediate communication and forcing immediate reaction. However, this
situation isn't always possible, especially with larger projects or as
we begin to expand the process to a larger audience, such as product,
marketing, business analysts, customers, interested executives, and
other stakeholders.
To accommodate this broader audience, it's important to understand how
communication has evolved. As I mentioned earlier, about a decade after
the Agile Manifesto, we now have many more acceptable means of
communication that don't require face-to-face meetings. This is
incredibly liberating and enables teams to properly understand both the
requirement itself and the context surrounding the requirement. Once
these information silos and organizational fences are broken down,
clarity can be accomplished through the requirements visibility, along
with the [social] tools' ability to facilitate the conversation through
approvals, commitments, and decisions. Said another way, interactions
are clear when the outcome is a decision that everyone agrees on, is
aware of, and can execute on. In addition, a historical record must
exist to avoid any rehashing of the same conversation.
STL: What are some other ways that you
recommend for developing agile requirements and keeping them agile
throughout a project?
DH: Better
communication. The concepts are simple: Make requirements available to
more people, connect them to upstream and downstream artifacts, enable
collaboration in and around those artifacts, and help ensure that
decisions and commitments are made by the right people.
Implementing this is another story. As you may have gleaned, I'm a huge
fan of leveraging tools. I try everything I can to manage tasks, news,
posts, photos, and music with the appropriate tool, but I find that
there is still a lot of work to be done to streamline the information
to my liking. I would say that my life has significantly improved
because of this, though many may balk at this statement.
Regardless, some romanticize a life devoid of technology and social
sharing, but with product development and RM there is no success when
users are isolated and independent. The most successful projects I've
been on were successful simply because we communicated well together.
While technology and tools can't guarantee better communication, they
can certainly help break down barriers and speed up the process of
communication, ultimately making teams more efficient and therefore
more agile.
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Media Spotlight
Effective Influence
Strategies: An Interview with Linda Rising
The ability to influence others is an invaluable tool, especially for
those in the software industry. In this audio interview, Noel Wurst
speaks with Linda Rising about her upcoming Better Software Conference
East presentation on "Influence Strategies for Software Professionals."
"Deception and Estimation: How We Fool
Ourselves" |
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What's
Happening at StickyMinds.com
Web Seminar:
Turn Your Organization into a Quality Assurance Center
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software to learn more |
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Outside the
Tool Box
Olly: The Web-connected Smelly Robot
The 1960 film "Scent of Mystery" was the only one to take advantage of
the infamous "Smell-O-Vision" gimmick, which pumped thirty different
smells into the theater during the running time of the movie. Some of
the smells even provided plot points.
And, now, you can have your own a Smell-O-Vision of sorts. Once built
and programmed, Olly, the web-connected smelly robot, will release a
scent into the air whenever you receive a Twitter retweet, Facebook
notification, or any other social web update you want to keep track of.
Learn
more about Olly, including directions for building your own

SEND US YOUR
OUTSIDE THE TOOLBOX
"TOOL"
Do you know of any fun or unusual tools, toys, or other items that
might be slightly outside the software development toolbox? Tell us
about them by sending an email to Joey McAllister at jmcallister@sqe.com
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| Finding
Ambiguities in Requirements |
October
16-17, 2012 |
| Agile Test
Automation |
October
23-24, 2012 |
| Mastering
Test Automation |
November 6-7,
2012 |
Learn more |
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StickyToolLook is an extension of StickyMinds.com
and Better
Software
magazine—and a reminder that your "online resource for
building better software" is just a click away at www.StickyMinds.com |
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