deriving business value from application lifecycle management

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pillar speed-to-valueand Borland ALM

• deriving business value fromapplication
  lifecycle management
• kenneth a. faw, president
• pillar technologies, LLC

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People take different roads seeking fulfillment
and happiness. Just because they're not on your
road doesn't mean they've gotten lost. - H.
Jackson Browne, author
introducing our fulfillment approach speed-to-val
ue
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the problem that ALM solves

• ALM represents the strategic alignment of Borland
  products to facilitate their promise
• Borland helps its customers gain competitive
  advantage by enabling them to create better
  software, faster source, Borland Software
  Corporation
• the pillar position is that Borland has achieved
  much of its goal through ALM
• continuing initiatives will also enhance their
  success in this area
• given a project with a problem to solve, ALM
  streamlines the handoff between tools used to
  move toward a solution

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what about methodology?

• many of our customers ask what methodology
  Borland sells as part of ALM
• others often ask what methodology works best with
  Borland tools
• they are often surprised to hear that there is no
  preferred method
• ALM integrates the handoff of artifacts from
  various software development activities
• it effectively blurs the lines that distinguish
  methodology phases
• ALM could make you more productive regardless of
  method, even if you have no method at all

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pillar speed-to-value an approach

• as consultants, we, too, are often asked which
  methodology we use, or we are required to use our
  clients methods
• ALM works well for us regardless, partly BECAUSE
  it does not include a prescribed or recommended
  methodology
• regardless, it has always been necessary for us
  to maintain fulfillment consistency under various
  methods
• we therefore defined an APPROACH that transcends
  methodology, which we call speed-to-value, or
  S2V
• S2V is the fulfillment subset of our complete
  Value Management approach and service offering

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approach or method whats the difference?

• in our distinction, an approach is a pattern of
  thinking or behavior, supported by process or
  tools that could be used in ANY method
• meanwhile, the method defines the systematic
  sequence of actions and deliverables
• we have applied S2V under RUP, XP and other
  methods, and with clients in which formal methods
  are avoided ?
• because both ALM and our approach are
  method-independent, they work well together

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key elements of S2V and ALM

• ALM
• StarTeam SCM core tool support
• traceability through Caliber
• OptmizeIt and ServerTrace
• JBuilder, CBuilder, Delphi cockpits
• bug tracking, workflow, CRs and discussion
  threads
• on-the-fly visualization and modeling in Together
• support for nearly every app server and platform

• S2V
• configuration management practice
• continuous integration
• rapid releases/iterations
• comprehensive automated regression testing
• one-line deployment and rollback
• development sandboxes
• integration with pillar Value Management business
  approach

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the speed side of S2V

• our core fulfillment practices, some from the
  previous slide, focus on
• formalizing and standardizing developer
  best-practices
• fast, automated regression test harnesses
• incremental releases to production
• continuous integration and collective code
  ownership
• preserving a focus on delivery
• systems in development have negative value
• constructing a Framework of Trust
• commitment leads to Trust, which leads to
  Momentum
• truth exists, but what we know about truth is our
  interpretation of an evolving understanding
• this allows better change management practices
  and vendor-client relations

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distinctions when combining S2V and ALM

• S2V is always concerned about the prioritization
  and fulfillment of promises for realizing
  business value
• Define
• Requirements Management all requirements do not
  have equal value prioritize and flesh out
  detail according to Value Management practices
  specifications as assertions of truth are the
  most valuable, which relates more to test code
  than to source code traceability and requirement
  decomposition should align with Release
  Management decisions
• Design
• Analysis and Design clarify truth as we know
  it development artifacts express increasing
  understanding of truth truth builds and
  generally does not take away truth is captured
  abstractly in models, but declared as
  distinctions in test harness source code the
  model is the code (sound familiar?), but changing
  models using LiveSource does not encourage
  testing
• Develop
• Version Control the repository is not a backup
  system for work in process, but reflects truth at
  a snapshot in time, ready for deployment S2V
  uses strict continuous integration standards
• Test
• Truth is captured in comprehensive, automated
  regression test harness segregated by
  constraints traceable (at a realized-value
  level) to Release Management and Requirements
  Management
• Deploy
• Integrated build environments can hide local
  efficiencies S2V creates developer sandboxes
  and does not accept a check-in from local build
  success alone
• Manage
• Change is not managed it is encouraged,
  according to Value Management practices systems
  should prove flexibility to change DURING
  development

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synergistic integration

• the notion when ALM components start working
  together, new things are possible that were not
  previously
• in the case of ALM and S2V, we also achieve
  synergistic integration (they facilitate each
  other)
• ALM preserves dependencies between artifacts as
  they evolve, facilitates communications, and
  integrates everything into the tools each role
  has readily available
• S2V increases quality, speeds delivery to
  production and implements the Framework of Trust
• nevertheless, none of this speaks the language of
  business so how do we get a chance to show value?

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Value is the most invincible and impalpable of
ghosts, and comes and goes unthought-of while the
visible and dense matter remains as it was. - W.
Stanley Jevons, professor
why buy? reconciling IT value and business value
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ALM, S2V and business value

• ultimately, a project delivered using ALM
  benefits from reduced inefficiencies due to
  integrated lifecycle transitions
• ultimately, a project delivered using S2V
  benefits from early and often delivery, with high
  demonstrable quality
• so what?
• ultimately, ALM and S2V are both concerned about
  delivering the results of projects, the
  fundamental unit of work for IT systems
  neither speaks in the discourse of business

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the advent of value management

• at about the same time ALM was conceived, pillar
  identified the gap between our capacity through
  S2V and trends in IT related to realized business
  value

The Business sees that Budgets are
tight Competition is high Time is crucial And
feels that IT Is overhead Takes too long Doesnt
deliver Focus Value
Meanwhile, IT sees that Budgets are tight Demand
is high Systems are complex And feels that
Business Makes bad decisions Provides too
little Expects too much Focus Demand
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Different Goals

• universal business goal
• increase shareholder value
• (for-profit organizations)
• increase Sales
• decrease Cost
• increase ROI
• decrease Risk
• increase Cash Flow
• through
• new Markets
• new Products/Services
• cheaper Production
• more Efficient Operation
• improved Marketing
• faster Time-to-Market

• universal IT goal
• deliver high quality, on-time,
• on-budget
• increase Predictability
• increase Repeatability
• increase Maintainability
• increase Usability
• increase Enhanceability
• through
• more Process (SDLC)
• more Planning (Portfolio)
• more Governance (PMO)
• more Documentation
• more Formalism (SEPG)
• more Structure (CMMI)

business is trying to become more agile
while IT is trying to become more managed
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ramifications

• the Business needs better, faster, cheaper
• but IT delivers determinism
• the Business needs to manage fluidity
• but IT doesnt respond well to change
• the Business is unhappy with IT delivery
• but IT tries to manage expectations
• and the gap is growing, not shrinking

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so how does ALM fit into this?

• the primary problem with ALM, and with S2V by
  itself, is that each lives in a different
  discourse
• as we said earlier, the discourse of IT is
  projects
• however, the discourse of business is realized
  value
• so what do we do about that?
• organize delivery mechanisms around value
• understand projects as a housekeeping structure
  for delivering value
• build practices that allow continuous
  re-prioritization of value within consistent
  fulfillment practices
• measure the value we help the business to realize

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how can ALM help us in this new discourse?

• increasing communications between fulfillment
  practices
• makes it easier to change course (CR, discussion
  threads, x-Unit, live-source)
• helps us organize and prioritize requirements
  (Caliber)
• improves quick, iterative releases and rollback
• provides the most productive tools for
  development and design (JBuilder, Delphi,
  CBuilder, Together)
• better SCM practices for planning quick releases
  than provided with simple version control
  (StarTeam)
• traceability from business value to implemented
  features in StarTeam views (Caliber)

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how can S2V help us in this new discourse?

• by reducing the time to realize nuggets of
  value
• reduces the cost of waiting
• reduces costs of potentially wrong decisions
• remaining agile to changes in direction
• enforcing a consistent view of current truth
• by always focusing on the most important value
  components
• integrating with Value Management
• maximizing total realized value
• streamlining the project component into a vessel
  for delivering components of value
• by speaking the discourse of business with
  respect to realized value
• S2V repeatedly delivers 5s profitability measures
• maximizes uptime, the capacity to generate
  profits from IT

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what else is needed in the new discourse?

• how do we identify business value?
• how do we compare value measures with different
  units?
• how can we tell which nuggets of value are more
  valuable?
• how do we structure value into units of work
  (projects)?
• how do we determine what to allocate budget
  dollars to in our project portfolio?
• how do we continuously re-evaluate value, while
  minimizing the cost of course corrections?
• pillar answers these questions with Value
  Management

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Value Management

• a practice that helps our customers realize the
  highest business value from their investment
  dollars (implemented in several service
  offerings)
• defining and managing business cases
• identify and prioritize alternative flows
• clarify inconsistencies between different value
  measures
• trace actual efforts back to the realized
  business value expected
• some of the results of this effort
• better scoped projects
• better incremental ROI planning
• more consistent release planning to increase the
  business value of IT
• preservation of the role of IT as a fulfillment
  organization and business as the owners of value

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the value space
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the value industry
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summary demonstrating business value from ALM

• make a commitment to speak in the discourse of
  business value, not demand management or
  determinism
• careful, the discourse of business value is not
  simply ROI
• fear may be a stronger motivator think Sarbox,
  HIPAA, etc.
• determine how you will answer the questions that
  ALM does not answer
• ultimately, you are not selling ALM, but ALM is a
  facilitator of your plan to increase realized
  value
• as Borland enhances the ALM story with
  business-level capabilities, it will accommodate
  your plans
• you will most likely need fulfillment practices
  that support value delivery as well (remember,
  agile versus deterministic)
• demonstrate the capacity to measure the value you
  deliver, and show IT to be a profit center for
  your business
• evaluate CMMI, PMO and other best practices for
  their potential benefit to you, not HP or others
• run IT like a business produce reports on NP,
  ROI, Cash Flow
• identify new markets seek flexibility and
  adaptability

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contact information

• pillar technologies, LLC
• Chris Beale (cbeale_at_pillartechnology.com),Regiona
  l Manager, Great Lakes248-350-1004
• Bob Myers (bmyers_at_pillartechnology.com),Regional
  Manager, Ohio Valley740-965-6596
• Mike Shanton (mshanton_at_pillartechnology.com),Educ
  ation Manager,248-321-8135

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The outcome of any serious research can only be
to make two questions grow where only one grew
before. - Thorstein Veblen, economist
Questions?