The Seilevel 2009 Software Requirements Holiday Medley

It's that time of year we all look so forward to, when we get to wish our colleagues around the requirements world a bit of SeiCheer with our holiday medley of songs. And worry not, if the 2009 collection isn't enough for you, you can go back in history and read our 2008 songs, 2007 songs, and our original 2006 songs!

Without further ado, sing along with us....

We wish you a Merry Release
We wish you a Merry Release
We wish you a Merry Release
We wish you a Merry Release and we hope it is near.
Requirements we bring to you and the team
Requirements for Release and we hope it is near.

Oh, bring us a new prototype
Oh, bring us a new prototype
Oh, bring us a new prototype and we'll love it, no fear

We won't go until we see it
We won't go until we see it
We won't go until we see it, so send the link here

We wish you a Merry Release
We wish you a Merry Release
We wish you a Merry Release and we hope it is near!

Oh Project SME
Oh Project SME! O Project SME!
Thy needs are so unchanging
O Project SME! O Project SME!
Thy needs are so unchanging
Not only at start are they clear,
But also when 'tis launch is near.
O Project SME! O Project SME!
Thy needs are so unchanging!

O Project SME! O Project SME!
Much time thou can'st give me
O Project SME! O Project SME!
Much time thou can'st give me
How often has the Project SME
Afforded us the scope for free!
O Project SME! O Project SME!
Much time thou can'st give me.

Rockin' Around the Requirements
Rocking around the Requirements
at the discovery workshop
Feature lists hung where you can see
Ev'ry executive tries to stop

You will get a validated feeling
When you hear voices saying
"Let's be jolly; Deck the walls with flows, oh golly!"

Rocking around the Requirements
Have a happy launch day
Everyone's drawing merrily
In a new best practice way

Rocking around the Requirements
Let the user stories sing
Later we'll write some data flows
and we'll do some modeling

You will get a validated feeling
When you hear voices saying
"Let's be jolly; Deck the walls with flows, oh golly"

Rocking around the Requirements
Have a happy launch day
Everyone's drawing merrily
In a new best practiced way

Rudolph the Brown-Nosing BA
Rudolph the brown-nosing BA
had a huge need to know.
And those who ever met him,
hoped they'd just let him go

All of the other BAs
used to scowl and call him names.
They never let poor Rudolph
join in any BA games.

Then one foggy release eve
VP came to say:
"Rudolph you are so very bright,
won't you guide my launch tonight?"

Then all the BAs loved him
as they shouted out with glee,
Rudolph the brown-nosing BA,
make our sponsors so happy!

The Seilevel 2008 Holiday Software Requirements Medley

It seems that we have an official tradition here at Seilevel.
Every year, we like to spread a little SeiCheer with our medley of holiday requirements songs.
If you enjoy these, you can go back to see the 2007 songs and 2006 songs.

Expert SME is Comin’ To Town
You better watch out
You better ask why
Better not tout
He’s breaking the tie
Expert SME is coming to town

Eliciting a list
Reviewing it twice;
Gonna decide which scope to slice
Expert SME is coming to town

He sees you when you're typing
He knows when you are late
He knows if the spec’s good or bad
At least try to hit the date!

O! You better watch out!
You better ask why
Better not tout
He’s breaking the tie

Expert SME is coming to town

Expert SME is coming to town

Requirement Drummer BA
Come they told me, pa rum pum pum pum
A new born SME to see, pa rum pum pum pum
Our requirements we bring, pa rum pum pum pum
To facilitate for the SME, pa rum pum pum pum,


rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

So to honor SME, pa rum pum pum pum,

When we’re done.
Newly found SME, pa rum pum pum pum
I am here for you too, pa rum pum pum pum
You have some scope to add, pa rum pum pum pum
That's fit to give to dev, pa rum pum pum pum,

rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

You will smile at us, pa rum pum pum pum,
When we’re done.

Last Christmas

Last Christmas, I gave you my scope
But the very next day, you cut it away
This year, to save me from tears
I'll give it to a new BA

Once bitten and twice shy
I keep my distance, prototypes catch my eye
Tell me BA, do you recognize the GUI?
Well it's been a year, agile’s working for me
I wrote it up and sent it

With a note saying "high priority", I meant it
Now I know what a fool I've been
But if you facilitated now I know you'd fool me again
Last Christmas, I gave you my scope
But the very next day, you cut it away
This year, to save me from tears

I'll give it to a new BA

Oooh. Oooh BA

A crowded room, SCRUM team’s tired eyes
I'm hiding from you and the process advice
My BA, I thought you were someone to rely on
Me? I guess I was a user to deny one
A face of a coder with a fire in his heart
Ready to build, but you tore it apart

Oooh Oooh

Now I've found agile BAs, you'll never fool me again

Product Bells
Jingle bells, product bells
Whistles all the way
Oh, what fun it is to plan
For a product launch today

Dashing through the code
With a one man team BA
Thru the halls we go
Writing all the way

Bells on testers ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to scope and sing
A requirements song tonight

Oh, jingle bells, product bells

Whistles all the way
Oh, what fun it is to plan
For a product launch today

The Santa Approach to Requirements Gathering - part 2

Story continued from yesterday...

Systems

Now, as anyone knows, if you are going to develop new toys, it is very important that you understand which other toys the new toys will need to interact with. For example, if a kid has a Lego set, you cannot just buy Duplo’s and expect them to work together. The elves therefore must spend a bit of time peeping around to really understand what toys each kid still has and uses, which toys need upgraded with new features and which ones are legacy and need replaced. For the ones they know they must integrate with, they take some detailed notes around compatibility issues.

Functional Requirements

Once the elves have narrowed down the scope, determined who the kids are, how well they have behaved and what toys they must integrate with, they must take on the most important step. They must determine what the children actually want! The elves are pretty tricky about how they elicit these requirements. They rarely actually interview the children directly. Certainly they talk with the parents a little, but we all know that talking to “management” doesn’t necessarily get us to the right requirements. Sometimes they will do surveys via commercial-watching monitoring. However, the elves’ preferred method is to use passive observations of the children going about their daily lives. They hear the kids talking to friends about the latest toys, see the dreams at night of cool games and watch catches the kids’ eyes in toy stores. And to clear something up - when Santa visits the kids at the malls at Santa-fiscal-year-end, you might think he’s still requirements gathering – but that’s really the elves’ last chance to validate the lists of requirements they gathered.

Development through Release

Throughout the year, as the elves gather new requirements for the children in their regions, they immediately enter them into ReqPole, their requirements management tool of choice. That way the elf teams still up at the North Pole can start developing and testing toys very early in the year. This is the only way they could possibly get them all done in time for a December 25 release.

And so, when December 24 arrives, the sleigh is loaded and Santa heads out with his star reindeer to deliver the toys around the world. After the elves watch the sleigh launch, they immediately go nestle up in their beds to rest up for a solid day. Because they all know, on December 26, they start the cycle all over again.

And whether you like the Santa Approach to Requirements Gathering or not, you have to give it to them, they ALWAYS deliver on time!

The Santa Approach to Requirements Gathering

‘Twas the day after Christmas and all through the world, everyone was enjoying their Christmas surprises. Everyone except the North Pole’s favorite elves. These little elves had just helped deliver gifts to homes all over the world, but it was already time to start planning for next year’s surprises! And so the little elves begin their requirements gathering for next year’s holiday toys.

Scope
To kick-off next year’s project, the elves gather for a scoping meeting in the North Pole (except those that are based at the South Pole, they typically conference call in). Santa facilitates the effort to elicit the year’s gifting objectives. They debate the big scope decisions – do they think the kids will take a liking to electronic gifts (can they really top the Wii again so soon?) or maybe an outdoors focus (can they innovate a next generation of roller-blades?). This is a big decision to make because all the elfs’ requirements activities for the next year will focus around this decision. Once they have their scope defined, the elves set out to elicit requirements using a favorite approach of looking at the People, Systems and Data.

People
Once they have gifting objectives to define their scope, the elves have to divide up their work for the year. First, they draw the global org-chart in the snow. They find that it works best if teams of elves own regions of the world. For example, a team of about 30 elves could easily own the southwest part of the US. Within the regions, they break the org-chart down to cities, neighborhoods, houses, gender and finally into “good” or “needs improvement” children. This was all based on the prior year’s data of course, since we all know it’s really hard to keep an org-chart up to date. But once they get to work on their region, they can make updates to the chart pretty easily. And so, with their org charts completed, each elf team heads out to start their requirements analysis for the children in their chart.

Data
The elves find that after focusing on “who” they needed to build toys for, they need to look at the data involved in this project….the often-dreaded “Behavior Records”. We all know they are out there. We all know Santa knows what’s in them. And to the elves, they are the foundation of the requirements work. The elves have to quickly get to work to analyze the existing data records, interview SMEs to understand where they may be out of date, and update the records to guide their year. And of course, they have to create new records for any new children!

Tune in tomorrow to find out how the elves uses Systems, gather their functional requirements and hit their deadline!

How To Shake Up Your Holiday Requirements