Holistic software

I invite you along to discover the wonders of the tech industry so you can do what you really like. What makes software engineering so alluring? I believe the answer is the ability to create something new, to make an impact and bring value. If you feel lost, disappointed, hesitant, or weak, return to yourself, to who you are, here and now and when you get there, you will discover yourself, like a lotus flower in full bloom, even in a muddy pond, beautiful and strong.

When does it occur? Who is involved? What are the benefits? Upcoming holistic testing opportunities. Interested in joining the Holistic Testing Program? As a result Strategic Goals can be thought of as the top of any Requirements stack. Generating or delivering Business Value is the purpose of a business. Typically, a commercial business will measure Business Value financially however public sector organizations, charities, open source communities and others will measure value differently.

Articulate how Business Value is understood and measured — this helps everyone understand the business purpose and the primary measurement of success helping avoid implementation of intermediary measures that are mis-aligned to strategy. Minimize the number of organizational layers — this avoids unnecessary translation of information across layers and unnecessary middle-management resourcing. See information on Resourcing Levels and Workforce Shaping for more.

Push tactical decision making as low as possible in the organization — empower individuals to use their skills properly within the organization and prevent strategic decision makers from getting swamped by minor issues. Business Leaders must back up tactical decisions made by their staff for this to work.

Make the change and measure the improvement. Validate the effect of numerous small changes with measurement to ensure systemic improvement. Forget the past — Business situations involving large numbers of people are extremely complex and so similar situations from the past are not good indicators of present or future events.

Correlation does not equal causation. Create a holistic strategy — do not separate business, technical, accommodation and other strategic elements. These aspects, and more, are required for complex organisations to succeed and they need to be changed in harmony.

We recommend creating strategy that takes into account all of these various aspects. Where fragmentation is necessary, niche strategies should always be in support of a top-level strategy and not exist in isolation.

Overall — Where? Does the strategy communicate a clear change and direction? Is it engaging, inspirational and compelling? Is it clear and unambiguous? Does it describe the rationale for change? Long live testing! One of the biggest problems in isolating testing….

One of the reasons…. How do we join up business strategy to agile development? Is program management relevant?