You Need to Look Long and Hard for Stakeholder Requirements
When performing a business analysis for Microsoft Dynamics NAV implementations you often need to look long and hard, for deep and insightful stakeholder requirements.
As a boy growing up in the mid-west I heard the occasional story from my family about my grandparent’s cat named “Blooey” that they owned starting around 1917. Blooey’s name came from his fur that had a bluish tint to it when the sun hit it just right. Based upon all the stories that were told to me over the years, Blooey must have really been quite a cat.
Growing up in my family you heard all kinds of stories from the many generations past. Sometimes the stories were so crazy that they make you stop and ask yourself “is that really true?” Growing up I never once saw a picture of Blooey or any other evidence that would support his existence. Who would really name a cat Blooey, and why would our family continue to talk about his exploits a hundred years after his existence?
My grandfather passed away 45 years ago, but I recently was given the pocket watch of his youth; an 1899, Rockford Watch Company pocket watch that he purchased second hand sometime around 1918.
A few weeks ago I was recording the model and serial numbers of the pocket watches I own. When I pried off the back of my grandfather’s Rockford watch I noticed some letters etched into the inside of the gold case. I grabbed my handy magnifying lens so I could look at the etching closely, and I read the name “Blooey”. I was dumbfounded with what I found; Grandpa had etched his cat’s name into his pocket watch.
There are times that you might find a business or stakeholder requirement in the strangest of places; with the guy driving the forklift in the warehouse or with the clerk in the back office who only comes in one day a week.
If you are performing elicitation in a business analysis then sometimes you need to be patient, look in unexpected places and dig a little deeper to get to the good stuff.