Pictures can convey messages much more powerfully than words. In a recent discussion about writing whitepapers, I suggested combining the idea-creation advice from Made To Stick with the image-creation advice from Back of The Napkin. Check out this article to see some concrete examples.
Category Archives: Writing
Effective Status Reports
An effective status report is one that
- Instantly conveys the state of the project.
- Creates a minimum of overhead for the project team.
- Gets you help when you need it, and latitude when you don’t.
- Is fun / energizing to the author and the readers.
An effective status report is not a myth, it is actually easy to achieve.
Posted in Communication, Consulting, Project Management, Writing
Tagged communicating, Project Management, status reporting, status reports
9 Comments
Get an Edge With Visual Communication
Having trouble working through complex concepts? Struggling to get a “simple” message across? As human beings, we are all pre-wired to absorb visual communication. You should take advantage of that to give yourself an edge when it comes to communicating.
Posted in Communication, Presentation, Writing
Tagged Communication, dan roam, guy kawasaki, visual communication
2 Comments
Defining Problems With Cause And Effect Diagrams
The Cause and Effect diagram is also known as a fish bone diagram, because it resembles the skeleton of a fish. Using a cause and effect diagram can be the most effective way to define the problems that you intend to solve with your product. Get your stakeholders engaged in your program with this compelling visual!
Requirements Writing Style and Synonyms
A rose by any other name…
When we’re learning how to write in high school and college, we’re taught that synonyms make our writing more exciting. In fact, not using synonyms can make our prose clumsy and awkward.
When it comes to requirements, the last thing you want to do is use synonyms. Except sometimes.
Why Separate Rules from Requirements
Separation of business rules from requirements is a good thing. Not because of semantic distinctions, but because it allows you to write better software, write it faster, and change it more easily. This article is a response to an excellent comment on our recent article about hidden business rules. Thanks for challenging the idea – it either eliminates it from discourse or makes it stronger, and we all benefit. Here’s an attempt to make it stronger.
Posted in Business Analysis, Product Management, Requirements, Writing
Tagged business requirements documentation, good requirements, managing data, product requirements, requirements documentation, software requirements, stylish requirements, writing business requirements, writing requirements
4 Comments
Posted in Communication, Requirements, Writing
Tagged ambiguous requirements, complete requirements, correct requirements, documenting requirements, incomplete requirements, incorrect requirements, logical requirements, managing data, requirements writing, unambiguous requirements, writing good requirements, writing requirements
1 Comment
Pairing Business Analysts
Pair programming is a bit of a foreign concept for many people in business. A few years ago, it was foreign to most programmers too. Pair programming is a powerful technique for software development because it allows two people to look at the same problem/solution from two different perspectives at the same time. Would that same approach work for business analysis?
Posted in Business Analysis, Requirements, Writing
Tagged business analysts, managing data, pair programming
3 Comments
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