Clicks & Notes

07 February 2005

When Not to Organize for “Efficiency”

Managing Product Development - Organizing for “Efficiency”:

…assembly line organization isn’t the most efficient for brand new or not-repeatable-work work. In software, every project is unique…

If you’re developing a unique product, don’t bother trying to optimize around when you do which piece. (Don’t bother organizing all the GUI work together as an example.) The lesson is that implementing by slice, implementing one complete feature at a time is more efficient than grouping all like work together.

⇒ Filed under:  by jen @ 10:20 pm

Sanity checks for feature lists

Cutting Through - Sanity checks for feature lists:

Here’s a simple technique that we use on a regular basis as a ’sanity check’ for the technical requirements of a development project.

  1. If it’s not already been done, write out the functional specifications as a numbered list of requirements.
  2. Do the same for the business requirements that were identified in the earlier stages of the project.
  3. Take each functional requirement in turn and cross-reference it against one or more business requirement. At each iteration, ask yourself “what business benefit does this feature deliver?”
  4. If there are any functional requirements that can’t be linked to a business requirement, ask yourself if it’s needed - and be very sceptical of the answer if it’s “yes".
⇒ Filed under:  by jen @ 10:11 pm

Creativity and Brainstorming Links

Some notes on good ways to generate ideas…

UIWEB.COM - How to run a brainstorming meeting:

  • Have a specific purpose
  • Know what you want, and what you plan to do with it
  • Know how to facilitate
  • Put the focus on the list
  • Comfort is key
  • Establish the ground rules
  • Postpone criticism

(via Ed Taekema - Road Warrior Collaboration)

Innovation Weblog - Springboard thinking:

“springboarding is turbocharged brainstorming.”

Springboards can include:

  • Redefinitions of the task headline
  • Wishes
  • Starting ideas
  • Challenges to constraints on the problem
  • Random thoughts
  • Feelings or gut level reactions
  • Apparently conflicting points of view

(via Fast Company Now)

mezzoblue - Getting Unstuck: Four tips for getting yourself out of a design jam:

  • Don’t look at another designer’s work if at all possible.
  • Throw a whole bunch of ideas on a canvas and see what sticks.
  • Plan, or improvise. Either way, do your DD (’DD’ is due diligence – things that must happen before a design begins, such as gathering materials like existing branding, project objectives, content, and anything else available)
  • If it’s not working, throw it out.

And where there’s a right way, there’s a wrong way…

Fast Company Now - Ways to Murder an Idea, including:

  • See it coming and quickly change the subject.
  • Ignore it.
  • Feign interest but do nothing about it.
  • Laugh it off.
  • Praise it to death. By the time you have expounded its merits for five minutes everyone else will hate it.
  • Say, “Oh, we’ve tried that before"–even if it’s not true.
  • Come up with a competitive idea.
  • Stall it with any of the following: “We’re not ready for it yet, but in the fullness of time…” – “I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time, but right now…” – “Let’s wait until the new organization has settled down…”

InnovationTools - Six great ways to ruin a brainstorming session

  • Having no clear objectives
  • Too homogenous of a group
  • Letting the boss act as facilitator
  • Allowing early criticism
  • Settling for a few ideas
  • No closure or follow through

Lastly, Dave Pollard has two very lengthy posts on the Creative Problem-Solving Process and where people get their ideas from.

⇒ Filed under:  by jen @ 7:22 pm

© Jennifer Vetterli, 2005