Program failures and the US Census Bureau, a reminder. - June 29th, 2010, by Fergal
During the early days of VisibleThread in Spring 2008, I used to carry around a positioning slide deck. This, I shared with interested parties; potential investors and early adopters mostly, outlining the VisibleThread value proposition. In it, I would outline high profile, troubled programs.
I would pinpoint how automated defect identification in documents would have allowed program managers not only identify, but reign in under-scoped & creeping projects & put in place effective project controls. The net effect was to avert out of control scenarios, avoiding programs being placed in jeopardy. Interestingly, two years later this remains our core proposition.
One of the examples I tended to cite was the US Census Bureau with its FDCA (Field Data Collection Automation) program aimed towards automating household data collection for the 2010 US census. The program was initiated in 2006 and by 2008 was in deep trouble. FDCA was all about equipping agents with handhelds that would automate the collection of data at the doorstep, cutting out the big expense associated with manual collection and the subsequent analysis of the data. (more…)
Growing a PMO from infancy to maturity - June 15th, 2010, by Fergal
At VisibleThread, we are fortunate to have the opportunity to observe PMOs (Project Management Offices) at first hand, particularly so as we work with many of the leading players in the FS (Financial Services) sector.
I recently came across a nice analogy on the PMI site at: www.pmi.org/Pages/PMO-Growing-Pains.aspx comparing a PMO with the human lifecycle. The basic assertion is that PMOs are born, grow up and hopefully end up as mature, ‘adult’ PMOs.
Applying the analogy to the PMO highlights the importance of ‘good parenting’ in terms of how a PMO is set up (i.e. born) and how it is nurtured and evolves. In fact, many PMOs stay at infant stage, not progressing much beyond the basic idea of a group of project managers with no particular strategic imperitive.
Document dependenies, traceability and Impact Analysis – tales from the front line… - April 7th, 2010, by Fergal
Well, it’s been a very busy last few months. Between getting our 1.2.1 release out and working closely with our key accounts it’s been full on.
So, I’ve come up for air in the last few days and I wanted to take the opportunity to share some thoughts relating to medium to large programs in IT and some challenges I’ve being seeing at first hand.
Many of the people we work with are involved in programs typically coordinating between 5 to 15 projects. These roles are variously referred to as ‘program managers’ or sometimes ‘program PMOs’ (Program/Project Management Offices). They look to VisibleThread to help assess the quality of documents for these initiatives. (more…)
Extreme Inspections – towards better metrics! - February 5th, 2010, by Fergal
One of the biggest challenges we face in IT is demonstrable & measuable ways to access the quality of IT specifications.
So, it was extremely refreshing to find a great article just published this week over at www.ModernAnalyst.com titled: ’ Using Extreme Inspections to Significantly Improve Requirements Practice’. The article focusses on applying Quality Assurance techniques to IT documentation. It’s written by German engineer Rolf Goetz, who has obviously been at the coal face and clearly appreciates many of the challenges we all face in establishing more empirical ways to improve process. (more…)
What is the ‘right’ SDLC Doc Template? – some observations - November 23rd, 2009, by Fergal
We recently received the following question:
“I work for a small subsiduary. Can you recommend sources of documentation templates so I can build best practice to model for our parent company? Then I could recommend visible thread to propagate the standards.”
The question opens up the very interesting, highly subjective & contentious 
topic of software process & the ‘best’ document template. I thought I’d blog on this and share an extract of my answer as it may be of some help to folks considering this whole area. Not a simple question, (more…)
The strange case of the missing ’serf-serve’ option - November 8th, 2009, by Fergal
I had a reminder last week of one of those quirky little rules in life that have no logical justification.
I was travelling with a colleague in New Jersey and we were running slightly late for an appointment with a customer, feeling a little anxious as the clock ticked. We stopped to fill up on gas as the yellow ‘low’ gas indicator light appeared on the dash. I instinctively made to get out of the car and start filling up. (more…)
What’s in a name? Well, quite a bit as it turns out! - October 1st, 2009, by Fergal
Lately I have been working with a certain large Financial Institution. We are putting in place a pilot program for VisibleThread as part of their global Quality Management initiative.
It was in this context that the particular pilot customer brought up the term ‘Center Of Excellence’ or ‘COE’. They were kind enough to share the definition that they have come up with. (more…)
The design of everyday things & how software products are still ignoring users - September 22nd, 2009, by Fergal
There’s something amazing about coming across people who are truly insightful in their field. One such individual is Don Norman. Years ago, I read his seminal work called ‘The design of everyday things’. You can see more here: http://www.jnd.org/ (more…)
A lesson learned on sheds - September 2nd, 2009, by Fergal
About 8 years ago, I took a stab at building a ‘shed’ in the back garden. This was no ordinary ‘flat pack’ IKEA style shed, rather it was to be brick built, concrete foundations, slate roof, windows with real glass… Only problem was, I had never built a shed before (more…)