NAMIC Requirements Pilot Report. Why do projects fail?

NAMIC Requirements Pilot Report

Why do projects fail?

“Opinions about why projects are impaired and ultimately canceled ranked incomplete requirements and lack of user involvement at the top of the list.”

– Standish Group, Chaos Report, 1994

“The number one contributor to project success is user involvement. Not surprisingly, the absence of user involvement is a major cause of project failure. Even when delivered on time and on budget, a project can fail if it does not meet users’ needs.” – Standish Group, Chaos: A Recipe for Success, 1999

“Lack of user involvement traditionally has been the number one reason for project failure. Conversely, the number one contributor to project success has been user involvement.”

– Standish Group, Extreme Chaos, 2001

What should we do?

very knowledgeable scientist

very agile engineer

engineer scientistwants to acquire knowledge wants to be challenged

What do you need to increase your knowledge?

A pebble.Retrieving a pebble will not challenge me.

challenge: Low science: Medium

engineer scientist

I have no use for the head of a samurai. Your effort and skill will be wasted.

challenge: High science: Low

I will bring you the head of a samurai instead.

engineer scientist

Can you bring me an eagle feather?

challenge: High science: High

Yes, that would challenge me.

条件交渉Requirements negotiation

engineer scientist

I will give you a quotation to take with you.

This is a perilous mission. How will others know that you sent me?

使用場合Use CaseStatement

This way others will know that I sent you.

This will also serve as a reminder that your mission is to retrieve the eagle feather and not to seek the head of the samurai.

“I seek the eagle feather. This will increase my knowledge” - 科学者

engineer scientist

I will consider my mission a success if I have grown as a ninja.

勝利は調節するConcreteWin Conditions

I will consider your mission a success if I have the eagle feather.

engineer scientist

I have seen what has happened here and I am happy.

NIH

Steps to go Forward

NAMIC Pilot Method for Agile Requirements ManagementProject: Project description

Use case: Quotation with direct attribution. The quotation should:

• describe the desired system behavior

• be written in the first-person (if possible)

• be written in the investigator’s language

• not contain any technical terms.

E.g.: “I’d like to do be able to go to an ATM and withdraw cash.” – Jane Smith, Ph.D.

Impact: Scientific impact rating from investigator (Low/Medium/High)

Difficulty: Challenge rating from engineer (Low/Medium/High)

NAMIC Pilot Method for Agile Requirements ManagementVision: Common vision of goal.

Goal: Technical description of goal.

Team Members: Team should be as small as absolutely possible. Small is beautiful. <5.

Win Conditions: Critical success factor and fundamental motivation for each team member.

If a win condition is not met, the team member will not consider the project a success.

Be aware of latent/ unspoken win conditions.

NAMIC Pilot Method for Agile Requirements ManagementSteps: Concrete steps towards project completion

Process Review: Aka: Team retrospective or postmortem. Quantitative review. Was this project a success? What worked what well? What didn’t work well?

Revise process accordingly for next project.

1. Algorithm Core reviews requirements pilot proposal at next Algorithm TCON. Makes adjustments and votes on ratification.

2. Engineering Core designs Project Template for Wiki.

3. Communicate Method to NAMIC-all

Steps to go Forward

Steps to go Forward

Develop Talking Points tied to NIH Priority Criteria

1. 2815 To what extent has the program blended the cultures of biology and computing … ?

2. 25 13

Have the Centers allowed other Universities with fewer resources to engage in or accelerate research that would have been difficult before?

3. 24 11

Has the NCBC program achieved something that could not have happened through traditional (IC-specific) NIH initiatives?

4. 22 14

Have the site’s tools made possible investigative activities that would have been either extremely difficult or at least very time consuming before?

5. 21 9 Have the site’s tools catalyzed “new science” in the user community? Can anyone point to something that, without the NCBCs, simply could not have happened?

Top 5 NIH Priorities for NAMIC

Talking Points1. How does this bring together biology and computing? (NIH 1)2. How does this help smaller labs? (NIH 2)3. How does this lead to New Science? (NIH 3-5)

Priority Description

engineer scientist

NIH