The Important Stuff Arguments about which technique is better are not what this book is about. It attempts to present a wide range of techniques and asks you to choose the best ones for your particular situation. So far in our history, the most models are available for modeling data and modeling activities. The most important chapter here, however, is not about modeling either of those. Chapter 6 is about understanding people and organizations, the roles they play in the success of an enterprise, and the importance of communications channels in making that success happen. This, alas, is something that has not been very well or very systematically addressed in our industry. For this reason, the chapter digs back twenty years to the field of cybernetics, and it uses insights from this field to discuss the communications channels that constitute the lifeblood of an organization. Specifically, it describes the way we use " amplifiers " and "attenuators" (filters) to manage the proliferation of "variety" (complexity) that confronts every business. Managing variety, after all, turns out to be what everyone's job is all about. Buried in the middle of that chapter is an expression of the true purpose of the requirements analysis process: Requirements analysis is the examination of an organization to determine the most effective amplifiers and attenuators to build. What are needed? How are those now in place ineffective or counter productive? What should they look like, given the purpose and organization of the enterprise? Amplifiers and filters? What are those? I hear you ask. To learn more about them, you are just going to have to read Chapter 6. |
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