AgileBI Delivery
As a BI Practitioner
I want to understand how to deliver in an AgileBI way
So that I can deliver faster and with less risk
There are a number of Agile focussed delivery techniques that you should implement when deliverying Data, Analytics or Visualisations in an AgileBI way.
There are also a raft of waterfall focussed techniques, that have minimal value in an AgileBI approach and so should be avoided if possible.
The articles below provide more details on both.
Requirements
SFT – Don’t complain, suggest something better
When you find something you don't like a natural reaction is to complain. The people you complain to will often listen politely, but they won't typically do anything about it. (Unless you have something they really want, that they will lose if they don't rectify what...
SFT – Its not the idea, its the execution
Your idea probably isn't unique. But then again you probably haven't found anybody that has done it the way you plan to do it. So don't spend your time asking people to sign NDA's or telling them half of the story. Just go execute on it. If you not sure, or need help,...
Deloitte Fast50 2013 – Infographic
So have you heard that the Deloitte Fast50 for 2013 has been announced and we came 22nd 😉 Check out our Badge Well one of the cool things about the Fast50 is that there are a myriad of different companies, doing different things and all at different stages of their...
SFT – Just try it
So you have a good idea, but your not sure if it will work? It probably is, just try it. But make sure you minimise what you lose if it goes wrong. Want to hire somebody but your not sure they are a perfect fit? Who is perfect, just try them. But tell them your not...
SFT – Steering Committees Details Not Needed
Steering Committees are not there to discuss anything in detail, review any documents, or negotiate an outcome. Steering Committees are there as a governance group to ensure the project is on time, on budget, doing the right things, delivering the outcome that was...
The world of software licenses is changing
Apple shakes it up again The latest player to shake up the world of software licensing is Apple. They have released their latest OSX version, Mavericks and have decided to make the upgrade free. And it means no more having to pay to upgrade to the latest features on...
SFT – Customers Buy, you don’t actually sell
You never actually sell anything, a customer always buys something. You can't (legally) make a customer buy what you want to sell. But you can convince them that the thing you would like to sell, will solve a problem they have, at a value that makes sense, from people...
SFT – Accountability
So when a project fails, who gets fired or who doesn't get paid? When a job isn't done properly and a customer decides to go somewhere else, who is impacted apart from the customer and the shareholders? Or when an employee leaves to work somewhere else because a...
SFT – What makes you remarkable?
Seth Godin wrote in his book Purple Cow about being remarkable. He blogged how to be remarkable here. Being remarkable makes you different, it means you will be remembered and means your customers will (often) come back again. Today I had a remarkable experience from...
Why don’t we stick a label on “the business”
Im sat here writing a blog post about why data warehouses die, and I was about to write about that person called "the business". How many times have you worked on a a project where team members talk about "the business"? Its not a person, its not a organisational...
What makes a data warehouse die?
There have been a few different threads for me over the last couple of weeks all around what makes a reporting platform survive and thrive or die. A data warehouse by any other name (By reporting platform I mean data warehouses, analytical data marts, operational...
TDWI Putting the BI into BA and the 3 e’s
As I have blogged before I am a great fan of classifying what we deliver as a company by the 3 e's of Expertise, Experience and Efficiency. For me its a very simple way to focus a discussion on whether the thing we are taking to market will be "cheaper & faster",...
Is it a plane, a dinosaur or a ducks foot, dont ignore the cultural differences
It is well-known that when you enter a new market or country there is often a number of cultural differences that you need to be aware of and if you don't then you have a large risk of either confusing that market or alienating them. As part of taking OptimalBI into...
Visualising your Linked in Network
I attended a 1/2 day seminar last week all about visualisation, presented by Neil Fraser from Macquarie University. Great session with lots of tit bits that were both interesting and informative. One of the areas he talked about was the visualisation of linkedin...
BI Platform in 3 months – Lesson #2 – Use IaaS you cant afford time to get servers
Following on from my first tip BI Platform in 3 months - Lesson #1 - Change your business owners engagement frequency the next area I wanted to cover is the challenge that is getting a hardware platform up and running. Lesson #2 - Use IaaS you cant afford time to get...
An Innovative thought – Shared data across all my mobile devices
Sometimes I wonder if the big incumbent companies don't innovate as much as they should because they are consciously defending their legacy revenue streams? It must be hard to say let's go down this route because it makes sense and blow the fact that we will initially...
How do you make something you have done reusable to somebody else?
Ok I managed to not put it in the title but it comes back to the old give a man a fish vs teach a man to fish concept. I have been struggling to work out what the best options are to impart knowledge to others in a way they can consume it, but more importantly in a...
SUNZ preso’s have been popular
A few years ago when I first left SAS and started up OptimalBI, I took on the role of chairperson for the SAS New Zealand User group. As part of that role I started uploading the excellent presentations from each years SUNZ conference to slideshare. I had forgotten...
What is a good culture? (apart from blue cheese of course)
Thinking back to all the places I have worked before I started OptimalBI, a lot of my memories are rose tinted (enhanced) or dark grey (clouded) by the culture that I perceived was endemic at the company at that time. Often the smaller team I was part of exhibited a...
BI Platform in 3 months – Lesson #1 – Change your business owners engagement frequency
We have just finished a 3 month sprint working with a customer to deliver a BI Platform from woe to go in 3 elapsed months. This is the first time I have been involved in delivering something from scratch to production in such a short amount of time. Yes we have done...
Some Innovations are big, some are small, some make the boat go faster
When looking at what value your company provides to its customers it can often be classified into the 3 E's Efficiency You provide something faster or cheaper than the customer doing it themselves. Experience You have done something a number of times before and its...