During the Second World War, the United States government attempted to release a memo for the blackout order of 1942 to hinder aerial bombers. “Such preparations shall be made as will completely obscure all Federal Buildings and non-Federal buildings occupied by the Federal government during an air raid for any period of time from visibility [...]
Every engineering project has requirements of some sort. Requirements encapsulate a common understanding of what is needed along with associated constraints and conditions. Requirements form the foundation from which development proceeds and downstream artifacts are generated. They are not optional. But there is tremendous diversity in how to write requirements; each method has proponents and [...]
Functional Requirements vs User Requirements Requirements are the foundation of any engineering project. And as any engineer will tell you: you need a strong foundation. Confusion tends to crop up when teams begin authoring different types of requirements, especially when defining user requirements vs functional requirements. The lines between different types of requirements blur. It [...]
William Mulholland was awoken by a call sometime after midnight, a terrible accident had occurred. “Please, God. Don’t let people be killed” were the only words out of Mulholland’s mouth as he reached for the phone. When a high-value engineering project fails, it is a media sensation. First, the organization’s name is smeared across the [...]
Reputation & Recalls Reputation is vital. It owns much of our lives: whom we associate with, where we live, and even what we buy. Almost 90% of consumers purchase with the company’s reputation in mind. The bottom line, public perception impacts corporate functionality. Risk management expert Peter Sandman claims it's a two-part problem. “How loved [...]