Thursday, May 12, 2005

Write a business case

 I’ve been a software developer for over eighteen years.  I’ve seen a lot of success during that time, I’ve also seen failure.  As many of you who follow my blog know, I have a strong belief that software quality has a positive relationship with start-up success.  I have presented information to support this belief.  What I also believe is that to have software quality you need strong leadership and a well articulated product vision.  The whole company needs to know where the product is going and why. This allows people to work hard and with creativity, yet also know the bounds of their endeavour. They also know what is on the horizon and what the technology needs to be able to do to meet product and customer needs. Writing a technology strategy is not easy task. It takes an understanding of the future, and that’s tough. What can help with articulating the company vision is to write a rock solid business case.  And their a couple of places to help get you started.  First, query your government, they are always interested in encouraging innovation its good for the national economy.  Check out the Government of Canada’s template for “Creating and Using a Business Case for Information Technology Projects“.  Also, there are always a number of companies who put together competitions for innovation. Check out Telus’ offering in support of the technology start-up.  Either way, do your homework, create a strong vision, articulate your business plan and don’t get bogged down with it, start running…