I am sure many people are already registered, but if you have not, The Early Bird pricing is $125!!!  Through February 16th.

The Agile Cooperative will have a table again – Stop by and say hello!  If you are going to be in from out of town – let me know!

Register at http://milehighagile2012.agiledenver.org/

On a related note:  Michael Spayd and Lyssa Adkins will be teaching Coaching Agile Teams in Boulder, Colorado on April 4th and 5th.  An excellent class on agile coaching and coaching in general.  You can view a description of the course on their website, agilecoachinginstitute.com… or just register!

Business Analysis Training Series

We just announced our Business Analysis Boot Camp, in Denver Colorado on April 11th, 12th and 13th!

If you are interested in learning more about the course, you can read the full description or register – or contact us if you have questions!

Some of the highlights include:

• Smart business analysis – we walk-through, with examples and exercises, an approach to business analysis that you can apply immediately when you get back to your organization.
• Hands-on exercises!  We focus on practical examples and exercises to facilitate learning!
• Lean business analysis – business analysis is not about developing a big document – it’s about delivering value to customers.  We look at ways to deliver more value for customers, while balancing the specific needs of your organization.
• Coaching and follow-up calls are INCLUDED.  We know from talking to customers that new questions and ideas arise when people take new ideas back to the reality of their jobs.  To address this need, we are including follow-up learning circle calls and private coaching sessions for each attendee!
• Agile business analysis and Scrum – Agile and Scrum are certainly popular right now!  We go beyond the basics and buzzwords and dig into details to talk about what agile is really about and why agile concepts are so popular. No prior knowledge of agile or Scrum is required – but expect to leave with a solid understanding of the foundations of agile – so you can talk about how agile affects analysis knowledgeably!
• Traditional, waterfall, agile, hybrid – Our course is not about picking one of these options, but it is about being as smart and lean as you can in your organization.  Focus on the customer – using the smartest approaches you can!

If you have questions, let us know – or learn more and register!

Business Analysis Training Series

Use cases are a popular analysis tool and are often used as a form of requirements.  Use cases provide a context or wrapper for features (potential requirements) customers need or want.  Use cases package a set of features and can be used with situational examples of real business scenarios.  There are a number of levels and types of use cases and because projects and organizations vary – your use case approach needs to adapt to meet your specific needs. We talk about these concepts and how your use case approach should limit waste and focus delivering valuable results.

Our course focuses on understanding and learning about use cases by working with them.  Attendees will develop, revise, expand, and update use cases in a variety of situations.

We will cover the fundamentals of use cases as well as more advanced topics.  So if you are new to use cases, looking for a better way to deal with features and requirements, or have experience with use cases, you will find valuable information in the concepts and information we present.  We cover the value of use cases regardless of your approach (traditional, agile, waterfall, rolling wave, hybrid, etc.) and explain how your use case approach has to vary with your project and organizational needs. We include a discussion and review of agile use cases and regardless of whether you are using an agile approach or not, these concepts can be used to improve your results. You can read more about use cases at Wikipedia.

Our use case analysis and modeling class is a hands-on course that engages attendees with practical exercises to learn about, understand, and practice developing and improving use cases.

Learning does not end when the class does!

We understand learning is an ongoing process.  We believe in relentless learning and improvement.  Many people leave a training class and then run into questions when they are back at their organizations implementing new ideas!  Our training package includes:

• Training class: Team and individual hands-on exercises to learn through experience.
• Learning Circle: Follow-up calls to review progress, build your network, and learn.
• Coaching: Two half-hour private coaching sessions are included and can be used to discuss and review your questions about the class materials, business analysis concepts in general, agile or other related topics.

Learn more about the course: Use Case Analysis & Modeling

If you have questions or comments please let us know!

We will walk you through a analysis framework you can use on any project.  Exercises and discussions are a large part of the course and are based on a case study simulation and real-life projects. We cover business analysis fundamentals as well areas such as:

• Combining analysis and elicitation
• Analysis in agile projects including a Scrum overview
• Lean and business analysis

If you are interested in learning more, take a look at the course outline.

Business Analysis Boot Camp is a practical hands-on course that engages attendees and encourages learning. The course is focused on introducing core business analysis concepts and skills with straightforward methods. Attendees will learn about business analysis concepts and techniques through individual and team exercises, lecture, and class discussions. Course leaning is based on presenting information and concepts then having students engage in exercise to increase retention, practice, and understand how to actually complete techniques. The goal of the course is for all attendees to walk away with an understanding of business analysis fundamentals as well as a toolbox of techniques and knowledge they can apply on the job. The course aligns with the IIBA Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®).

To learn more or register check out the course details or register

Have questions? Let us know!

Agile Denver is excited to announce our first annual conference, Mile High Agile 2011: Elevating Agility. Our one-day conference was created to further Agile Denver’s mission of creating and sustaining the world’s best agile community. We foster this by creating opportunities for people to connect to other agilists, user groups, events, jobs, technical communities and vendors. Agile Denver has been the heart of the agile community in Colorado and we are in our 11th year and still growing. This conference will extend your agile knowledge regardless of your role or experience level in your organization.

You can learn more and sign up at the Mile High Agile 2011 web page.

We will discuss the fundamentals of lean software development, review common software ‘wastes’, and look at what lean means to business analysis! It starts at 12PM EST.

Update: If you are interested in this webinar/presentation please contact us at solutions@vimstreet.com or call us at 303-746-7479. You can also see our business analysis training page for more information on other topics.

UPDATE: We will be scheduling another Lean Business Analysis Webinar soon. Email us if you are interested and we will notify you when we do the next one.

Agile – Myth or Reality

Why do we keep hearing more and more about agile? When will it arrive? Has it already arrived or has it departed? The presentation will provide an overview of agile-Scrum to demystify it. What is a standup, a sprint, why do people talk about chickens and pigs? Understanding why many people are “agile fanatics” requires clarity about the types of issues that agile can resolve.

Building on the overview of agile, the presentation will review common “software project challenges” and review why agile is often cited as a solution to these problems. Can “being agile” really solve these issues and reduce risk? Are these problems actually related to the software project? Finally, the presentation will review why Agile can’t solve all problems, although we often seem to only hear about ‘agile magic beans’. The session will review issues that agile may expose, but cannot solve, and how those issues can make or break your agile success.

Learning Objectives:
- Understand the basis of agile-Scrum.
- Understand how agile minimizes risks and why people promote it.
- Understand types of issues that agile exposes but cannot address.

Learn more and RSVP here.

If you have questions or comments please post them here (include your email and add “private” to the post if you would prefer a direct response via email).

2009 seems to be moving right along! Was 2008 tough or not so much? Will 2009 be better or worse? Are things sometimes LESS challenging than they appear?

The recent inauguration and oath of office that the US President takes has me considering just how small some project problems actually are. I was listening to a NPR story about the oath, and a few things jumped out (note that LISTENING to the podcast provides more than reading the article summary).

So where is the oath found? It is the last paragraph in Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution. It reads “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Did you realize this is the ONLY sentence in the Constitution that is in quotes? Personally, I found it quite interesting that these were the only words in the Constitution that the writers believed should be specified. Most of the Constitution is not that detailed, according to Marvin Pinkert, executive director of the National Archives Experience.

On Iterations: Can you learn from George Washington? Clearly he is not teaching any classes anytime soon, but consider that the word “ability” evolved from “judgment” to “abilities” before finally becoming “ability”.  There are notes from Mason and Adams related to changes they wanted in the oath.  I find this interesting because today, we rarely think about the fact that there was an iterative process to developing the Constitution.  There was give and take.  People had to work together.  Consider how complicated that process must have been when you are working on your next large project.

More or less all projects and tasks have some iterative component so saying Washington was on a Scrum team, is over the top perhaps (and yes, Scrum can work on non-software projects). There are always changes as work is reviewed. When working on a 100% pre-planned project, you are going to run into issues if you do not have a way to address change. Change is coming, one way or another!

On Requirements: Requirements are constantly changing and the ability to tweak words to adjust the meaning is never ending. It is important to do so, in order to to make the requirements, as they say, “consumable.” Consumable requirements are not to be used in a sandwich with mayo and pickles. Consumable requirements should be able to be used for their intended goal. The critical question: “who is the audience?” You may need multiple versions of requirements or prototypes for various audiences.

On Scope: As you can see, the words “so help me God” are not in the Constitution.  Please note that I am not looking for a debate about whether they should be or not.  From a strictly technical standpoint, I find it interesting that with only one specific sentence in quotes, the phrase is not included.  So when was it used first?  That is unclear.  Some say Washington used those words, and others argue he did not.  Likely an endless debate, and as Pinkert notes, since he does not have a tape of Washington’s inauguration, he does not know.

On Change Control: Looking at the Constitution overall, perhaps it has the strongest change control of any “solution” around?  Going into effect on June 21st, 1788 (with New Hampshire’s ratification (89-79!)), there have only been 27 changes to it.  Some of these however were quite large. For example the Bill of Rights, with those those basics like freedom of speech and religion, accounts for 10 of the 27 amendments made (ratified in 1791).

So change is allowed.  The writers realized that they must allow for changes to take place.  That said, the process is quite rigid. To amend the Constitution, two-thirds of both houses need to propose the amendment and three-fourths of all states must ratify the amendment (Article 5).  That is tougher change control than most projects I run across!

A few questions to ask yourself:
Do you allow changes on your projects?
How rigid is your change control process? How rigid should it be?
Are you stifling change?
How do you account for natural changes and the flow of new ideas?
When is scope creep OK?
How do you handle iterations?

So how do I wrap this up? My point here is that sometimes we all need to consider stepping back and asking some questions about what we do everyday. Are we making things more complicated than they need to be? Are they actually LESS complicated?

Granted they had some heavy weight thinkers working on that project (the Constitution), but consider that the writers had to wrestle with these issues throughout the entire document, not just the oath! Keep in mind, this was all without the fanciness of cool terms and technology like stakeholders, computers, PMOs, agile, Scrum, IIBA, APLN, PMI, the Internet, Twitter, FaceBook, Linked In, Plaxo, and even NPR.

They got it done – can you?

Feel free to email me with questions, comments, or ideas for future blogs!

A fake subject matter expert or SME can derail a project. Improvements to your business should be based on the best information you have access to, not outdated or incorrect information. The acronym “SME” seems to pop-up everywhere. I agree that saying “subject matter expert” does not flow as well as SME, but the phrase drives home that the person should be an expert (and in the right subject)!

Subject matter experts are used on projects from IT Strategy, to business process improvement, to software development, to organizational change . . . to name a few. They are supposed to impart the wisdom of what is actually happening, and often, what is needed. But if they are NOT an expert, then what? Are you basing the success of your project on poor information?

So what exactly is a fake SME? The basic premise is that they are someone who appears or pretends to be a subject matter expert, but is not. There are many types, but let me outline some of the more common ones:

1. The person works with the subject matter, but is not really an expert. This may be a junior person, someone new, or someone who probably should not even be working the area. If this person was quick to jump at the opportunity or was the only person who was available, this is not a bad thing, but be cautious. Is this person available because they don’t really know the subject matter, and the true experts are busy getting things done? Find out how long all SMEs have worked in the area they are an expert on and who the junior and senior people are. If you determine you are not working with an expert, perhaps the person can help coordinate with the expert and can save some of the expert’s time (and learn more in the process)?

2. The person thinks they know the subject matter but have never actually done the work. Typically, these folks are in senior management. They could be a director, VP, or C-level personnel. They may also be your sponsor or product owner. I often find this type of fake SME the toughest to work with, for obvious reasons! A key to dealing with this type of fake SME is to understand two key points: (a) they may know about some of the key problems in the business, but they do not typically know ALL the details of those problems and (b) they may have some insight into how they WANT the business to run.

This second point leads to a foundational question related to a SME. You know you want an expert, but WHICH subject matter do you want an expert on? Do you need an expert on the current or future process, system, or organizational structure? Perhaps you need BOTH? To avoid problems here, a simple way to deal with this is to find two SMEs, one a “current SME” and one a “future SME.” You also have to deal with the issue of “the value of understanding the current environment”, which is often overlooked, but that is another blog on another day (or night!).

3. The person was a SME, but has not actively worked with the subject matter in quite some time. This type of fake SME can be dangerous. They THINK they are a subject matter expert, but really don’t know what is actually happening. A quick way to determine if they are an expert is to ask (in an appropriate way) when they have most recently worked in the area you are discussing. Managing people doing the work is NOT the same. If they are not an “end user” they likely do not know how things are happening NOW. Just knowing how things used to happen does not help you if you are trying to understand a CURRENT business process, system, or organization. Some of the same tips for the “#2″ person above would apply here.

So how do you prevent a fake SME from derailing your project?
Aside from the ideas above, I have found an effective method for dealing with the fake SME is to prevent having any assigned to the project in the first place. During the early stages of a project, when discussing SMEs, talk about “end users” and the current and future states of the subject matter. You can adjust the statement of work or a project definition, whatever works for you. The key is that the earlier you discuss this with the project sponsor or product owner (who, as noted may be a fake SME!), the more of a chance you have to mitigate the risks.

If the project is underway, and you did not have the opportunity to address it early on, try asking the fake SME a lot of questions. Asking a lot of questions will often cause them to recommend that you gather more information from other “experts”, which ideally gives you the chance to find a real expert.

The age old question comes up again, “who else should I talk to?”

Feel free to email me with questions, comments, or ideas for future blogs!

P.S. Thanks for the excellent comments and questions on last weeks blog about online networking and Linked In. Keep the comments and questions coming and feel free to chime in right in the blog! There were a lot of valuable comments, and I believe having them here would be valuable for others to see as well.