1. ‘I’m not sure what that means.’
2. ‘That’s not what I meant.’
3. ‘I thought that was in scope.’

~~~~~~~~~~ From Alexander Gunjko’s presentation at the Sydney Building Business Capability (BBC) Conference – Sept. 10-11, 2012

Guest Post I was teaching a BA class, trying to convey the value of having a prototype. The class was divided into ‘developers’, the BA, and the ‘executive’. The developers were given a bag of duplos, multiple shapes and colors. The executive was given a bag with a completed duplo creation. The instructions were for the BA to elicit information from the executive and provide it to the developers so they could build the creation. What I discovered is that they needed a common language (terms everyone knew the meaning of), and a frame of reference (location, name of layers or identity of corners, etc.). Without this information, communication was impossible.  After they created these ‘handles’, they were able to communicate and convey information. The value of having a prototype was demonstrated.  The value of common terms and clear understanding was priceless! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Acks: Thea Rasins Consultant, Educator and Professional Organizer KCIIBA Board Member and Vice President of Professional Development

I’m an avid fan of soccer … and, of course, business rules. I recently found the following business rule via a Twitter search and just had to ask what it meant. FootballRascal – Can’t sign a player and then loan him out to another Premier League club in same window, business rule as fee charged Ronald_G_Ross – For U.S. audience, but avid football fans, what is motivation for not-in-same-window business rule? MeJonWhite – Personally, I have no idea, can’t see the logic. He could go on loan internationally, but not domestically. Ronald_G_Ross – Just one more ques. re not-in-same-window business rule. Uh, what’s a window? Period of time? Season? MeJonWhite – Summer window is July 1st – Sept 1st, it’s just the off season registration period. January is the Jan window. I am still in the dark, but I didn’t want to bug the kind folks any more. What I need is a blueprint to the concepts, a fact model, to bootstrap my way into a meaningful conversation quickly.