User Generated Requirements - Part III
In the last post, we looked at how blogging could be used as a means of requirements elicitation for customer facing web sites. In this final part of the post, we will extend the concept outlines in the first two posts and take a look at the challenges surrounding this approach and evaluate scenarios which are appropriate for requirements collection through this means.
Monitor Use
The initial investment that goes into developing a new business service is just a small part of the service’s lifecycle expenses. Over time, significant effort and consequently money is spent in keeping that service updated, hosting it and fixing issues. From our experience, we have sometimes seen businesses spending hours and dollars into maintaining and hosting a service which none of the users seems to be bother about. Examples range from a weather portlet on a financial service provider’s B2B portal, personalization features that are never used, stock ticker portlet on a Telecom company’s website.
Look, it is understandable that we can sometimes err in thinking on behalf of the user. That’s quite alright. But to roll out an application or a service which is not being used a lot and still keep pumping time and money in it is no less than a crime. Enter Web Analytics...
The thing that I love about web analytics is the shear common sense that it makes to utilize this service. It is absolutely essential that when you roll out a new service, you also dedicate half an hour of your time to roll out the analytics code with it. This code will later provide you feedback on how often is this service being used, by what categories of users and how. You can use this valuable information in either deciding how much money needs to be put in this business service or how soon can you get rid of it to launch something new.
Though this topic is not directly related to the subject of our discussion, it is one of the essential new skills that the new age business analysts should be abreast of. Our discussion about the new age BAs would not be complete without this discussion.
Issues in roll out
Like any new idea, this subject too has some issues that need to be weeded through before it can be implemented. Let us discuss a few key ones.
1. Concerns about idea leaks
One of the first and the obvious issue about putting your requirements churn out process online and out in the open is the concern for IP. What if you come up with an idea that will totally revolutionize the way B2B transactions are carried out? You don’t want to share it with the whole wide world before it is actually implemented – besides stealing its thunder, it will also negate any competitive advantage that the idea could bring with it. So, how do you handle such ideas in this new world?
The answer can vary based on your personal preferences between the following two options:
You don’t
You do it in a controlled environment.
The first choice is an obvious one. Just because you adopt this new approach on requirements gathering, does not imply that it becomes a mandatory part of your project’s lifecycle. You will still need to use your discretion in deciding which ideas go to the blog and which do not. An IP sensitive idea, obviously, should not be discussed using the approach outlined in this paper. It needs to be very closely guarded and discussed with very few, trusted individuals probably including an IP Attorney.
In certain cases, you may have an idea which could boost your organization’s business potential but you also have a need to test the idea with a reasonably sized group of say, ten to twenty people. Here again the blogs can help you in developing the idea further through facilitated discussion with the only difference being that instead of being a public blog, it is now a private one – with authorization to read and write the content only to that group of twenty odd users. The remaining rules of the game remain the same – you still go through the three phases of floating an idea, facilitating discussion and rationalizing feedback.
2. Change Management
Although this approach is no rocket science, it is a little out of the way of how regular SDLC is executed. Like with any other change you will need to address the implications of adopting this new approach in your organization. First and foremost – the people on whom this approach has the biggest impact – our business analysts. Your organization would be extremely lucky to have BAs who are avid bloggers and totally up to speed with how to employ them. If you are not so lucky, then your first course of action would be to enable the BAs to handle this new role – through workshops and trainings.
You will also need to explain them the rationale behind adopting this approach – why it is important to your business, what would happen in case you don’t, what is expected out of the BAs. In short, you will need to sell this idea to your battery of BAs in order to achieve some degree of results. If they are not convinced, they will not be able to do the job right. Make sure you to provide them with a basic primer of enablement before you put them on the new job.
3. Analyzing User Opinions
Another stumbling issue in using this approach effectively could be the analyses of user opinions. Remember – not all users may have the right intention or opinion. There will always be some people who feel everything is unnecessary, useless and a waste of time. As a BA, you will need to learn how to weed out users of this type and concentrate your effort on the remaining lot. An effective filtering strategy could be asking these users for reasons, data or other references that they base their opinion upon.
A second, more comprehensive strategy could be to tag a user based on his contribution with a few thumbs up or thumbs down. Whenever you find a reasonable contribution, give a few positive points to this user and few negative ones when the opinion is biased or baseless. This user rating could be made available only to other fellow BAs of your organization. Over time, this accumulated user profile indicator will give you a good idea to see if a particular user is helpful or otherwise.
4. Business behind the Technology
One of the traps that you consciously need to avoid is attempting to utilize technology without any business model behind it. In other words, if you set up a Blog service for your portal without backing it up with business analysts, who can facilitate discussions, solicit user reactions and then slice n dice them, then you would not achieve much.
Remember, this approach proposes to employ technology to aid us in getting requirements, it does not automate the process! Requirement gathering is still very much a human activity and it needs to be executed by experienced Business Analysts.
Other Trends
Most large organizations conduct a goal setting exercise at least once in a year where they get their key people in a three to five day workshop to discuss what should the organization focus on for the next financial year. This in turn drives unit wise targets and measurements for the year. This activity is usually carried out with the top brass because of the sensitivity of the discussions and manageability. I think it is a great idea because it lets the organization tap into the collective knowledge, insights and gut feel of a lot of people – not just the board of directors.
With the approach outlined in this blog, a little attitude and dash of drive the same exercise can be extended to your whole organization! Organizations can plan an annual 2 week corporate blogging event where the focus areas for the next year can be set up as blogging subjects. Each area could be moderated and facilitated by a few key members. The floor should then be opened to all the employees to throw ideas and opinions out. At the end of the blogging event, the core team can start dissecting and all the posts and come up with a handful of differentiators.
If you think about it, this is an extremely powerful thought. These days it is hard to say where the next big idea will come from. By extending a discussion from an audience base of hundred or so to more than fifty thousand users you are increasing the probability of landing up with some amazing ideas by a few thousand percents. The technology go achieve this is available, the approach – conceivable! Let us start gathering requirements from the whole wide world.
