| 10 Evo Principles by Tom Gilb | Overview | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Info |
The next Evo delivery step must be the one that delivers the most stakeholder value possible at that time |
Discussion:
This is just like a game, like chess, where of all possible moves, you want to select the 'best' one.
What is a 'best' Evo step? That depends on your current needs and values. In some cases it might be just to get something, anything, delivered at all. Later the focus might shift to increasing the economic value for a customer. Still later we might choose to focus on the most profitable step. So, the notion of 'best' may shift. But at any given moment we need to be clear in our project and team minds exactly what a best step is.
In Evo we can often 'compute' the best step using an Impact Estimation table (see note below). The values of the stakeholders are (we hope) specified numerically so they are clear to all - in performance and in quality requirements. The project budgets for all types of resource should be equally clear and quantified. This setup (quantified requirements) gives us something with which to evaluate the several delivery step options. The option with the 'best' quantified, estimated, value-delivery, in relation to costs, should, in general, be the winner. This is very similar to chess-playing logic on a computer.
Of course, value for one stakeholder is not necessarily value for another, so a refinement of this step-priority evaluation is to decide consciously the stakeholders whose value/cost (step efficiency) we want to maximize. For example: out of our internal staff and testers; our new customers; our old customers - which one should we try to please first, and in the 'next' step?
The presentations will introduce you to the practical tools with which you can decide, as a team, which stakeholders have which precise requirements, and which Evolutionary steps deliver the best bang for the buck to the favored stakeholders.
| Example: | |
| 'Evo allows the marketing department access to early
deliveries, facilitating development of documentation and demonstrations. Although this access must be given judiciously, in some markets it is absolutely necessary to start the sales cycle well before product release. The ability of developers to respond to market changes is increased in Evo because the software is continuously evolving and the development team is thus better positioned to change a feature set or release it earlier.' |
| Elaine L. May and Barbara A. Zimmer, HP Journal August 1996. |
Note:
This is one of the tools we use in connection with the Evo method. It allows us to
quantify the benefits of Evo step alternatives in several dimensions of benefit, and
several dimensions of cost, simultaneously. Impact Estimation Crosstalk Dec 98, 'Impact
Estimation Tables: Understanding Complex Technology Quantitatively'.
This article can be found in its entirety on the Software
Technology Support Center Web site at www.stsc.hill.af.mil/CrossTalk/crostalk.html.
Go to the 'Web Addition' section of the table of contents.
Impact Estimation article was also published in Metrics In
Motion Nov98 Newsletter.