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[Reqsman-general] RE: Requirements Manager (reqsman.sf.net) update
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From: Mark A. <ma...@au...> - 2002-02-20 04:42:54
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Just thought I would throw my 2 cents worth in. I have started (although I am admittedly not very far yet) on an actual technical design and requirements doc to address some of the thought that Matt and I have discussed. I doubt for this project it will ever get too detailed but what it to be enough that when someone joins they have something to serve as a bit of a technical and functional roadmap. I hope to have something to share in about 2 weeks. I am currently being 'beaten down by the software gods' as you put it. Although it really does appear that there is a reasonable end in sight, but that is another story. As for platform, I am probably in the minority on source forge in saying this but I actually like windows compared with the various unix flavors. Although that is probably just due to familiarity with Windows vs. *nix environments. That lack of familiarity however, along with the desire to get something to help me in my own projects, is part of the 'itch I would like to scratch' in taking on this project. Even though I don't feel trapped by windows, I am a huge java fan and that is the direction I am taking my design. I have seen the code that I have developed (on a windows box) be deployed and run flawlessly on everything from another NT server to a Linux box to an IBM OS/390 mainframe. With that said it really shouldn't matter what platform you want to run the final product on so long as it has a reasonable jdk / jre. If anyone wants to post some ideas to the mailing list on what you would like to see this beast do I will get them included in the first draft of the requirements doc. In the next couple of days I will start posting individual requirements to the mailing list to see if we can generate some discussion. Mark -----Original Message----- From: Matthew England [mailto:men...@me...] Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2002 1:00 PM To: Geoff Glasson Cc: req...@li...; ma...@us...; men...@me... Subject: Re: Requirements Manager (reqsman.sf.net) update Hi Geoff- (i hope you don't mind my lack-of-capitalization for informal letters...i find in can write faster this way.) Geoff writes: > I am currently working on a project that is > suffering from poor requirements management, and since I am having to lead > the way out of the s**t, I am very keen to develop something that will assist > me in future. you're not alone. i have received several inquiries from people, and most of them have been "beaten down" by the software-project gods. i take that you have, too. if so, i share the pain. i don't want to mislead you though; i doubt that our work will lead to anything usable within the next 6 months...and this number is just a guess. (i define "usable" as providing a project/product manager with reasonably confidence to use the tool on an actual, money-making project.) so i simply warn you in advance that if you're looking for short-term help with your existing stuff, this project (reqsman) probably will not be your best bet. please let me know if you are looking for this kind of help, and i can give you some pointers ('cause i'm already in this sort of position). you might also want to look at other projects like NEORMS, ReqMaster, and The Project Architect, although there doesn't appear to be any more activity going on for these than there are for reqsman. i suspect that the reqsman approach may have a broader perspective and be less tied to software technologies than these other projects...but i'm only speculating. > I have some ideas about what is required and how to implement it but they > haven't progressed all that far yet. i feel implementation fundamentals are important, like avoiding dependence on technologies (like Windows) unless high-level reasons call for it. (for what it's worth, i'm a Unix-lover, too, and disdain Windows...but use Windows because i'm in many cases artificially constrained to do so.) i also feel that it's quite feasible to provide multiple user perspectives (ie, interfaces and modes) to the same services and data served by software. my main concern at this stage is to identify (and have development parties agree upon) what type of user(s) we want to serve now, and possibly discuss what users/needs we might want to serve in the future (i believe the targeted user-type set may grow over time--and i speak in terms of years). i then want to discover our users' goals, and direct our efforts to best serving those user goals. i also find that rarely does a user goal have much to do with underlying implementation technology. fyi: i've found Alan Cooper's "The Inmates are Running the Asylum" (as well as his associated site at http://cooper.com) provides interesting guidance for this kind of thought. throughout development of this kind of stuff, i suspect that user goals may stay stable while the tools and tasks used and executed to reach these goals may change dramatically over time. to this end i expect that, if this becomes a bona fide project and actually takes off with users, the internal guts and implementation may change quite a bit over time. the key for me is to make sure to track these user goals and high-level "business" requirements. > I'm quite interested in taking this somewhere, but would like to see a few > more details before I commit. more things to come. i recommend joining the reqsman mailing list (req...@li...; see the reqsman email lists page for more info). i copy the list with this email. -Matt At 2/19/2002 06:16 AM, Geoff Glasson wrote: Matt, I'm quite interested in taking this somewhere, but would like to see a few more details before I commit. I am currently working on a project that is suffering from poor requirements management, and since I am having to lead the way out of the s**t, I am very keen to develop something that will assist me in future. I have some ideas about what is required and how to implement it but they haven't progressed all that far yet. For instance, I am a UNIX devotee and don't want to develop something specific to Windows, nor do I want to limit the user interface to a specific window manager / toolkit ( I'm a KDE fan ). So if I were to build something like this myself, it would be Java based, perhaps even applet based running off an SQL database. I think that this would give the project the most flexibilty and means that it could be used across multiple platforms. I am quite willing to discuss options with you or anyone else for that matter, and help put together the requirements for this project. Regards...Geoff On Tue, 19 Feb 2002 06:55, Matthew England wrote: > To: gla...@ii..., nh...@us... > > Per your inquiries about Requirements Manager (reqsman.sf.net), I've posted > a the following note: > > <http://sourceforge.net/forum/message.php?msg_id=1489284> > > Hopefully more to come soon. > > -Matt -- Geoff Glasson gla...@ii... |
