Business Requirements at the Mall

One of my conversation starters on requirements used to be to take people on a walk around whatever mall is closest to their client site and visit a few different stores.

I'd try and go to two different places where the physical product was the same but the atmosphere was widely different. For example you could go to:

* Borders CD Section and JB Hi-Fi
* Kikki-K and Office Works
* Country Road and Polo Raplh Lauren

These stores core product is widely different even though their physical product is the same.

Borders and JB Hi-Fi both sell CDs and Music but their presentation, layout, pricing strategy and advertising could not be more different. Kikki-K and Office Works could not look more different if they tried, yet both sell Pens and Paper.

Why?

Well they are solving different problems for different customers in different situations. Different "Business Requirements" in BABOK speak.

They have different stakeholders with different expectation and preferred trade-offs so even if the physical product seems to be the same it's worth spending the time to understand the users and environment to deliver, price, and present it correctly.

When I say this with a store everyone nods and understands, but when we start talking about software everyone jumps straight to solution.

The lesson from Retail is that even if you guess the correct solution if you haven't spent the time to understand your market and their needs, chances are you're not going to deliver it to their expectations.

P.S. Kikki-K does this to perfection. Every square centimetre of their stores yells that they will make you into some super-organised, efficient, effective, blond, Swedish person with impeccable handwriting. Once they've sold you this dream getting you to pay $12.99 for a pad of paper is easy.