Comments on: 5 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Technology Project https://www.bridging-the-gap.com/5-questions-to-ask-before-starting-any-technology-project/ We'll Help You Start Your Business Analyst Career Tue, 05 May 2009 20:27:03 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 By: Richard Lynn Paul https://www.bridging-the-gap.com/5-questions-to-ask-before-starting-any-technology-project/comment-page-1/#comment-428955 Tue, 05 May 2009 20:27:03 +0000 http://clearspringanalysis.wordpress.com/?p=112#comment-428955 By coincidence I just finished chapter one of “Are Your Lights On?: How to Figure Out What the Problem Really Is” by Donald C. Gause and Gerald Weinberg. And the main point I got was the question, “Who’s problem is it?” Defining this changes the list of possible solutions.

]]> By: Susan Penny Brown https://www.bridging-the-gap.com/5-questions-to-ask-before-starting-any-technology-project/comment-page-1/#comment-428951 Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:02:21 +0000 http://clearspringanalysis.wordpress.com/?p=112#comment-428951 I remember taking my tech lead out to visit a very disgruntled client who told us, “Every time I finish doing “Y”, I just want to push a button that does “A”, “B” and “C”. My tech lead thought for a moment, looked at the client and said, “What if I made A, B and C happen every time after Y and you never had to push a button?”

This happened at least 25 years ago, but I still remember it was the day I realized the tendancy to express a solution rather than the true problem.

Susan Penny Brown
Interim Technical Management, Inc.
303-889-9797
interimtech@comcast.net
Strategic Planning * Best Practices
Vendor Assessments * Process Alignment

]]> By: Gerald M. Weinberg https://www.bridging-the-gap.com/5-questions-to-ask-before-starting-any-technology-project/comment-page-1/#comment-428952 Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:31:29 +0000 http://clearspringanalysis.wordpress.com/?p=112#comment-428952 Laura, nice job. If we could just get people to recognize the difference between a problem statement and a solution idea, half our problems would disappear overnight.

And thanks for the plug for Are Your Lights On?

]]> By: Laura Brandau https://www.bridging-the-gap.com/5-questions-to-ask-before-starting-any-technology-project/comment-page-1/#comment-428953 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:18:51 +0000 http://clearspringanalysis.wordpress.com/?p=112#comment-428953 Thanks PM Hut for your comment!

As I see it, an opportunity exists because someone has a problem…their problem, your opportunity to solve it.

I would say that the opportunity to “build a new PM Tool” is really a solution and would ask “what problem are you trying to solve by building such a tool”? I can’t answer that question for you, but I can suppose some potential answers: 1) You want something that’s easier to use than Microsoft Project; 2) You want to help project managers be more effective; 3) You want to help project managers allocate resources….and on and on.

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