27 February 2009

A meme on modelling

Posted by
I propose a meme for our BA and PM bloggers.

Recall the first and last analysis model you used at work.

The first model I can recall using was a SWOT analysis back in my first year at Optus in a business process improvement team. I can't really remember the details but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with PayTV billing cycles.

The last model I used was an affinity diagram where I linked business case goals to a requiements spec's top level feature set (which was derived using a product breakdown/functional decompostion.)

(I've plugged in the wikipedia links to descriptions of each of these models.)

I'm keen to see what you guys put up - what models are we using and how?


Julian/Kevin, Jonathan, Maria, Pawel, Andrew, Bas, Raven and Scott - tell me your answers & pass it on.

And anyone esle? Josh, Glen, Rick...

Dont forget to link back to this post so I can track the replies.


(Photo by Simon Pais-Thomas CC @ Flickr.)
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5 comments:

  1. Craig,

    On a more general note, it is interesting to see the proliferation of various "bodies of knowledge" as memes. In this connection your readers may find my piece on a memetic view of project management of interest. The article is based on a paper by Jon Whitty, who teaches at the University of Queenslamd.

    Whitty views the PMBOK, and PM practices in general, as memes - and points out some of the insidious effects of these. These days other professions are jumping on the BOK bandwagon too - witness the BABOK for business analysts and now even a DMBOK for data management professionals. I wonder if this is altogether a good thing...

    There's no doubt that codifying knowledge is necessary. But it is equally important to highlight the need for practitioners to think for themselves. To this end, your first-model last-model exercise might be extended to include an analysis of why we use particular models for particular problems. The answers may point the way to improvements in practices and in the models themselves.

    Regards,

    Kailash.
    ReplyDelete
  2. ash

    I am very much a fan of Whitty's work.

    And I agree that collections of what is commonly done, rather than a definitive list of what should be done leads plenty of people astay.

    Let's keep expanding the conversation via our blogs!
    ReplyDelete
  3. Cool meme - I blog at Wordpress and blogger's rather territorial about links, but my contribution's linked to my name.
    ReplyDelete
  4. Craig,
    I liked your idea and post about model meme for analysis. It was an opportunity to look at a the diverse works of the past. I have put up a general view on my blog at http://snnair.blogspot.com/.
    Sincerely,
    Saji
    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Craig,

    Interesting idea. I've posted about my models here:

    http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/a-meme-on-modelling-my-first-and-latest-models/

    Laura
    ReplyDelete

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