currently interested in awesomeness and how to create it

Requirements defined – the fun way

What’s the difference between an entrepreneur and a consultant?

No, this is not a lead-in to a joke.

Both get things done, but the entrepreneur has the ownership of the problem. The consultant can always walk away.

I’ve been in consulting long enough to know – and feel – the difference. Inasmuch as I love to solve other people’s problems, I’ve felt compelled to create some for myself; then solve them, for myself.

And so I did.

WHY

The #1 problem software project team face is not knowing what to do.The #2 problem is knowing it.

Communicating “what needs to be done” is hard. So hard that there are specialists (requirements analysts, business analysts, etc.) whose sole job is to translate information flowing between the so-called “stakeholders” (people with desires and money to satisfy them) and developers (designers, vendors, …) Even though they all speak the same language. Many times, the developer (and not just a software guy: in the broadest sense anyone who’s making stuff someone else desires) will either not know what the client wants or think he does but be utterly wrong.

No software or tool can make that effortless. Defining the product, the scope, the vision, or the requirements, all that will always be a human activity where tools can merely help.

Or, they can stand in the way, forcing their way of thinking and methodologies and “best practices” down everyone’s throat. Which has been the case with many “requirements management” systems out there.

And so I set out on a mission: to help people get the right things done by creating and tracing their ideas the fun way, or at least the suck-free way, and doing so together so that everyone is in the loop.

WHAT

It wasn’t about building a better mousetrap.

There’s quite a lot of good-enough tools for “managing” the “software lifecycle” and such (throw in your favorite buzzword). I did not set out to compete with DOORS. Or with Basecamp, for that matter.

Instead, I’ve focused on the process of formulating and perfecting ideas, weeding out those that won’t make it in the sunlight, and deciding which ones will.

This usually happens on paper. And in email. And no matter what, it gets messy pretty quickly. Changes get lost, intentions forgotten or mis-shapen, and even when there’s a nice Word document at the end, the time-span between handing it over to the developers and testing out a live product tends to be so long that those ideas that you want to help come true change many, many times (and not just because the world keep spinning – you do, too).

Keeping track of shit and knowing when shit changes is crucial to getting shit done.

And so I’ve begun to think and prototype a tool that would help me and you along the way.

HOW

I am just starting out. That’s after maybe a year working on it. Sounds pretty ridiculous considering the startups that put the shit out after a 72-hour sprint. But hey, it’s a one-man attempt at world domination. And that takes time.

The website has been out for about 4-5 months. The app started looking barely-good-enough about 2 months ago. At this point I’m re-thinking most of it, and making it a real business in the process. Just learned the LLC that’s behind it is – finally! – established and in Good Standing  in the state of New Hampshire, US of fucking A.

What’s next?

Next, I must come out. It’s not an easy thing to do, and this post is one of the first things I’m doing to do that.

I am putting myself out there to re-think and re-define and pro-mote the way people gather and perfect ideas and make them happen. Not an easy task but as Hugh McLeod said in his Microsoft cartoon, “Change the world or go home.” How’s that for raising the bar, eh?

If you’ve gotten this far, the problem I’ve described sounds familiar to you and you’re probably looking for a solution to it. Well then, why don’t you go ahead and test-drive Playground, the application that I’ve made, so that you know if the solution I am proposing is one that could help you?

It is my intention to do this the right way, the customer-driven way. I am working with people who are trying Playground out to make sure that they can define, plan, and implement the ideas they have in a effective (and not just efficient) way.

Let me know what you think.

February 25, 2009 | Filed Under Enterpreneurship, Me & You, But Mostly Me, Software 

comments

1 Tweet

3 Responses to “Requirements defined – the fun way”

  1. tomaskohl on February 26th, 2009

    Slowly coming out with my startup: http://bit.ly/SZZLa Requirements analysis done the fun way (if THAT is possible, we’ll see)

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  2. Daniel on March 2nd, 2009

    It promotes a goal-focused approach and for that reason I like it.

    Only spent 5 minutes test-driving it, but I’m impressed with it so far. Simple and clean design. Good job.

    Do you have a channel, other than this blog’s comments, for people to provide more detailed feedback/suggestions?

  3. Tomas Kohl on March 2nd, 2009

    Thanks, Daniel!

    No public channel yet, and this probably won’t be the place. Most likely either uservoice or getsatisfaction – will let everybody know.

Additional comments powered by BackType