Identifying software value and objectives

This section is arguably the most important in the book.

We choose to buy or build software because we want some value relative to the money we spend. If we have to spend too much to get the value, then it's not a good value. We need to have a clear understanding of the value in order to determine if what we choose to build is indeed a good value.

There are a lot of sources for possible value. It's easy to get distracted when building software iteratively - to build a little of this, and a little of that. But sharp focus on delivering value in specific areas pays off with more value delivered sooner.

This section is about identifying and concisely modeling the sources for value in our software. We'll call these sources our objectives. We'll identify our objectives and decide which are our highest priority – for now. This is the first design decision we'll make in a long chain of decisions that eventually results in the software we deliver.

Let's get started.

1. Identifying sources of value as business objectives (D 4/13/2007)
2. Measurable business goal model (D 4/19/2007)
3. Create a business goal model (D 4/13/2007)
4. Interview business stakeholders (D 4/13/2007)
5. Create a simple financial model [[#grade-and-modified-date, create simple financial model