SAP has announced a SaaS BI service that looks ideal for SMBs.  It seems to have all the tricks you'd expect, so it's worth learning about. Problem: SAP is being cute about their pricing and I don't want to waste a lot of time on this if it turns out to be another overpriced SAP product. Has anyone got any idea what SAP intends t...

How many times have you experienced a disagreement between colleagues, only find out later in the project that they were both correct. Chances are that they were using the same word, but both had different ideas of its meaning. [1] I can derive hours of entertainment by playing word games with my friends, by picking a word they are using and purpo...

How often do you see the same piece of information documented in 2 places? I am used to seeing requirements information copied into design documents; whole sets of requirements being copied into a test repository and diagrams copied from one document to another. Unless you employ a strict change management control system that includes a traceabilit...

This following blogs contain rants and recommendations for good practices, useful not only for when delivering software, but that can also be used any time organization is required. The most common improvements that can be leveraged on any (some on every) development process it has been my experience to be involved with, are the following: ...

Requirements I have been working with requirements for more than 20 years. To be honest, it was several years before I understood the true purpose of requirements. The enlightenment came about when I was tasked with documenting a presentation to my colleagues that described the characteristics of a ‘good’ requirement. The characteristics that the ...