New Layout for ClearConceptualThinking.net

I finally found the time to change the layout of my blog. Hope it's much clearer now, improved readability. There are some issues with the way Google displays ads, but I hope to fix this within the next couple of days.
Let me know what you think, please!

Problem to Solution - The Continuum Between Requirements and Design

Christopher Brandt, relatively new blogger from Vancouver, Canada, has an awesome piece about the difference between problem and solution. If he blogs more about problem solving, and in this outstanding quality, he definitely is someone to follow.

While I do not completely agree with the concepts, I believe everybody doing requirements or design should at least have this level of understanding.

Requirements written that imply a problem end up biasing the form of the solution, which in turn kills creativity and innovation by forcing the solution in a particular direction. Once this happens, other possibilities (which may have been better) cannot be investigated. [...] This mistake can be avoided by identifying the root problem (or problems) before considering the nature or requirements of the solution. Each root problem or core need can often be expressed in a single statement. [...] The reason for having a simple unbiased statement of the problem is to allow the design team to find path to the best solution. [...] Creative and innovative solutions can be created through any software development process as long as the underlying mechanics of how to go from problem to solution are understood.

Which brings me to promote again and again the single-most powerful question for finding requirements from a given design: WHY?

Don't forget to have fun ;-)

Using Extreme Inspections to Significantly Improve Requirements Practice

Today I'm pround to announce that one of my latest articles has been published on modernanalyst.com:

Using Extreme Inspections to Significantly Improve Requirements Practice

It will be showcased next week in the Feb issue of the eJournal of ModernAnalyst.

From the introduction:
Extreme Inspections are a low-cost, high-improvement way to assure specification quality, effectively teach good specification practice, and make informed decisions about the requirements specification process and its output, in any project. The method is not restricted to be used on requirements analysis related material; this article however is limited to requirements specification. It gives firsthand experience and hard data to support the above claim. Using an industry case study I conducted with one of my clients I will give information about the Extreme Inspection method - sufficient to understand what it is and why its use is almost mandatory, but not how to do it. I will also give evidence of its strengths and limitations, as well as recommendations for its use and other applications.

Thank you, Adrian, for your support!