Requirements and Bridging the Silos (Part 3 of 3)
by Andrew Hayward
The first and second parts of Mr. Andrew Hayward’s three part series on Requirements and Bridging the Silosdescribed how, in larger development efforts, the division of resources into roles often reduces the effectiveness of communication and hinders understanding of requirements (see part 1 of Requirements and Bridging the Silos) and how to increase the understanding of project requirements within and between the testing and implementation silos (see part 2 of Requirements and Bridging the Silos).
The final installment continues with some examples of how silos have hindered communication and, therefore, understanding of requirements, and the solutions these organizations applied to resolve these problems. Following this is a list of eight best practices to bridge the silos in your organization.
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| Requirements_and_Bridging_the_Silos_(Part_3_of_3).pdf | 153.38 KB |
Debatable
"Software development should not be seen as a set of discrete functions in an assembly line, where one group puts together the
requirements, the next group takes those requirements and builds the solution, and another group then tests the solution."
That's a well-stated position, but I think it is one that can be debated; I would like to think that companies that have truly moved to an assembly-line approach are probably doing very well.
In such a debate, however, I do think you would need different examples than the ones offered in your article, as I don't think they reflect the divisions mentioned above. Any arbitrary division of the development process will produce problems; the divisions are usually organizational, rather than based on a meaningful division of the process into coherent sub-processes.
On the other hand, the opposite side of a debate would need examples of companies successfully using an "assembly line". Would any other readers have any examples to offer? If not, I would think we might have to consider that we don't know enough about software development yet to determine if an assembly line approach can work. People made most everything in their own ways for centuries until Mr. Ford came on the scene; the software "Ford" may not have arrived yet.
So, I am just saying its open for debate and would ask if you have any better examples to offer...
David Wright
Member, IIBA
"As a general rule the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information."
Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)