The Power of the Story

My work involves putting together software requirements for developers to code against. Much of that effort gets into very low level detail, and quickly can become an exercise in delivery of details that may not trace back to the objectives of the project. I have found in my efforts to set boundaries of what is delivered as the product starts with defining the business objectives of the customer. And the best method of communicating those objectives is through "telling the story" of why, what, where, how, and who is involved. A software tool called Blueprint that was presented at the October Austin IIBA meeting is a great software tool to investigate when trying to tell the story of your software project.

This process of story telling not only in software engineering projects, but also in presentations is very powerful, and when you can start with that story in either a presentation or defining scope of a software project you will be very effective in communications. I also recommend looking into Doug Stevenson's Storytelling In Business books and CDs.  By putting on your Story Telling lens - you will find the process of communicating business objectives and providing key messages to inspire or motivate in connecting with others.