“Off the Shelf” Software Implementation Pitfalls
This is the long-awaiting (or at least long-promised) article on implementing “bought” products; a follow up to our Buy vs. Build Your Software article. Many large organizations rely heavily on external vendors for large scale software implementations of “Off the Shelf” packages – very frequently modified for competitive advantage and/or to align with internal business processes. These are some common pitfalls to these Custom Off The Shelf (COTS) implementations.
The Art of Accepting Feedback
As practicing solution and enterprise architects we regularly present our work to our stakeholders for feedback. Those stakeholders range from mentors to peers to project teams to executive sponsors. In any and all of those situations, it is important to be able to accept feedback. Read more
Lies, Damn Lies, and Traceability
In my last post, Traceability 101, I talked about the essential role traceability plays in the success of a project. By writing business requirements, functional requirements, and then drawing traces between them you can create a traceability matrix that reveals 1) business requirements that are not covered by functional requirements, and 2) out-of-scope functional requirements that creeped into your project.
Too often, however, project managers see the steps in a project from the point of view of items that simply need to be checked off: Read more
Type A’s Needed!
We write frequently on this blog about our proven method to deliver IT architectures based on industry-standard tools and approaches like UML and IT Risk Management. We also write about the critical intangible skills that an architect needs to succeed, such as meeting facilitation, diplomacy and organization. One needs to be steeped in all these areas – as well as to form a strong “magic triangle” of technical/business/management skills to really succeed.
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