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Why your software doesn't do what you wanted
December 14, 2011
Don’t end up with software that’s like a square peg in a round hole
When you buy software you assume it will do everything you need it to do for your business. After all, the marketing literature said so! But after they have committed to purchase and installed the software, many businesses discover that:
- There are limits to the expected functionality
- They need to buy new equipment to get any benefit
- Some functions are not part of the basic package so they need to purchase add-ons
- Their PCs and network need to be upgraded
- They need to bring in technical support to set up or make changes
If this happens to you, you’ll find you have not bought what you thought. Worse, you’ll have incurred unplanned and unbudgeted additional costs.
Why your software requirements matter
The most important thing to do before buying software is to clearly define, communicate and agree your requirements up front. Then agree objective acceptance criteria so both you and your supplier know exactly what is expected: you won’t sign off the software until it meets these criteria.
Often, achieving this seems as likely as me winning the pole vault in the 2012 Olympics (I’m not keen on heights!).
Indeed, the analysis and thought process involved in establishing your acceptance criteria can, in itself, ensure you are objectively considering what your business needs. Establishing success criteria forces you to ask the right questions when considering an investment in software.
How to define your requirements
These are the kind of questions you should ask when it comes to defining requirements:
- What are my business objectives? For instance: quality, automation, clear business processes, return on investment, reduced timeframes.
- What features and capabilities need to be delivered? Be explicit.
- What constraints must be applied? For instance: cost, timescales, business process change, risk, infrastructure, maintainability, upgrade.
- What are the longer term requirements and does the software need to support a longer term strategy? Essentially, does the software need to grow with your company?
- What are my acceptance criteria?
The last one is key, because acceptance criteria enable you to establish clear, objective measures that will ensure both parties (you and the software supplier) know what is expected, what is being delivered and can be happy when requirements are met. They will cover areas such as:
- Specific capabilities and functionality - what do you need the software to do?
- Technical requirements - what kind of computers or network will the software need to run on?
- Performance requirements - how fast should the software run, how many users should it be able to handle, how much data should it be capable of processing?
- Training needs - how much training will be required and how will it be delivered?
- Business process changes - what changes will your business have to make to accommodate the software?
- Maintainance and support - how and when will these be provided and carried out?
The criteria have to be objective and defined to the right level of detail. Why objective? Tell two people you are thinking of buying a great new car and one will tell you to buy a Porsche and the other a Nissan. Perhaps that’s a bad example … I would go for the Porsche every time, but that just goes to show that we do not intuitively consider other people’s perspectives!
Avoid ‘satisfactory’ performance
Specifically, I have seen many companies make the mistake of defining criteria to say ‘performance must be satisfactory’. This is a totally subjective statement and could mean anything. It often results in endless unsatisfactory debates - once it is too late - about everyone’s interpretation of the word ‘satisfactory’.
The right business critical software can transform your business, but you need to know exactly what sort of transformation you are looking for – and you must be clear on why and how you will assure success.
Read more about buying software for your business:
- How to avoid problems with software developers
- Creating your IT requirements
- Choose and use IT suppliers
Susan Chadwick is co-founder of Edge Testing Solutions.
Olympic errors: why you should take testing seriously
March 23, 2011
Launching a new website can be stressful. Just ask the organisers of the London Olympics, who opened their ticket website last week. After last Monday's big switch on, it didn't take long for people to twig that the site couldn't handle debit and credit cards due to expire before August. Whoops.
Interestingly, reports say that 'the website and ticketing guide clearly state that Visa cards must expire no earlier than August 2011'. In other words, the expiry date restrictions were known about when the site launched, but people weren't reading the explanation before putting in their ticket applications.
It's a common problem: people don't bother reading instructions, then get frustrated when things don't work as they expect. In short: if you have to explain your website, it's too complicated.
Always test thoroughly
Before you launch a new website - or any IT system - it's really important you test it thoroughly. You need to catch all the bugs you can and ensure everything is secure.
But that's not enough. Your site must be easy to use too. Can people find what they're looking for? Is your order process straightforward?
It might be harder to answer these questions definitively (not everyone's perception of 'easy to use' is the same), but it's vital you do your best.
If you're working with a software developer or web design company, they'll be able to help you with all kinds of testing. And there's plenty of information about usability testing on the Marketing Donut, our sister site.
But whatever you do, put time and consideration into how you test any new IT system . It could make the difference between success and failure. Or - as the Olympics organisers have illustrated so well - it could help you avoid any unnecessary bad publicity.
(Image of a ticket booth from Flickr user Sister72 under a Creative Commons Attribution licence.)
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