Better Software - March 2009 - (Page 8) Editor’s Note The “More WiTh Less” ManTra Recently, the employees of Software Quality Engineering (publisher of Better Software magazine) were given the opportunity to attend a thirteen-week money management class. In this class, we are learning how to take control of our personal finances by getting out of debt, saving money, and investing for the future. This course is being offered at a good time, given the shaky state of the economy. Not only is it helping us get control of our personal financial lives, it also makes good business sense. Armed with the knowledge of how to make the most of our money and put it to work for us—rather than feel like we are at the mercy of our finances—we are better able to concentrate on work at work and be more productive. With companies trying to find ways to make their money go further, the “do more with less” refrain is being repeated in workplaces around the world. But how does an organization actually begin to adopt this as a practice without sacrificing quality? In this month’s issue, you will find several articles that can help you get started. In his Technically Speaking column, “The Missing Measurement,” Lee Copeland suggests that while many of us are being told to “do more with less,” a more useful approach is to “invest our organization’s scarce resources where the return is the greatest.” To do so, he says, we must define the desired financial benefits along with the requirements when developing a system. In this issue’s cover story, “Lean Portfolio Management,” Guy Beaver discusses how improving your software development process is only valuable if it fills the highest-priority needs for your business clients with speed and quality. Lean principles provide guidance on how to create a structure that lets business priorities drive the selection of the right products for creation and enhancement. By managing your prioritized business features in a visible portfolio, you can hasten delivery of value to your customers. And in “Building a Foundation for Structured Requirements,” Yuri Chernak wraps up his discussion of aspect-oriented requirements engineering (AORE) that he began in the January/February 2009 issue. AORE is a new methodology that can help us improve the analysis, structure, and cost of software requirements development. As always, I hope you enjoy this issue of Better Software magazine. Drop me a note to let me know how you’ve put this issue to work for you. Happy Reading! Heather Shanholtzer HShanholtzer@sqe.com 8 BETTER SOFTWARE MARCH 2009 www.StickyMinds.com http://www.StickyMinds.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.