Make a strong business case

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Make a strong business case

Yi Zhou

As A software ARCHiTECT, has you had A hard time getting your archi-tecture project well funded? The benefits of software architecture is obvious for architects, but is mythical for many stakeholders. Mass psychology tells us that ' seeing is believing ' is the strongest belief for most people. At the early phase of the projects, however, there are little to demonstrate to convince stake-holders of the value of SOU nd software architecture. It ' s even more challenging in the Nonsoftware industries where most stakeholders has little software-engineering knowled Ge.
Mass Psychology also shows that most people believe in "perception is reality." Therefore, if you can control how people perceive the architectural approach you propose, it's virtually guaranteed that Y ou can control how they would react to your proposal. How can I mange stakeholders ' perceptions? Make a strong business case for your architecture. People who has the budget authority to sponsor your ideas is almost always business-driven.
I have employed the following five steps to generate solid business cases to suc-cessfully sell my architectural approach Many times in my career:
1. Establish the value proposition. The value proposition is your execu-tive summary of what your organization ' s business warrants a particular software Archi Tecture. The key for this was to compare your architectural approach with existing solutions or other alternatives. The focus should is put on it capability to increase the productivity and efficiency of the business rather than how Bril Liant the technologies is.
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?? 2. Build metrics to quantify. The values you promise to deliver need to is quantified to a reasonable extent. The more your measure, the more you can bolster your case, the sound architecture would leads to a substantial return. The earlier you establish metrics, the better you manage people ' s perceptions, this help you sell responsible architecture.
3. Link back to traditional business measures. It would is ideal if you can translate your technical analysis into dollar figures. After all, the only con-stant parameter in the traditional business measures are money. Find Busi-ness analysts as your partners if you aren't comfortable with financial work.
4. Know where to stop. Before you know where to stop, you need to prepare a roadmap that captures a vision with each milestone on it tied Directl Y to business values. Let the stakeholders decide where to stop. If the business value for each momentum are significant, you are likely to get contin-ued funding.
5. Find the right timing. Even if you follow the previous four steps to generate a solid business case, you still may is not able to sell your ideas If you pick the bad timing. I remember one of my proposals did not get approved for a long time until another project turned off to BES a total failure Because of poor architectural design. Be smart on timing.

Make a strong business case