Tag: Learning

Better Tools 4: Productivity Tools for Process Modelling in Visio

Written by Martin Coomber on December 1, 2015. Posted in Articles.

This post provides three efficiency tools for process modelling and design work in Visio. They provide quick resizing and realignment tools for groups of shapes and a way of moving shapes without dragging its connectors as it moves.

It complements three earlier posts:

Better Tools 1: Efficient Table Management, which describes Word tools for quickly recording content into tables and numbering the entries,
Better Tools 2: Automated Punctuation in Microsoft Word, which describes tools for formatting and punctuating tables and bulleted lists.
Better Tools 3: Hand-drawn Process Flows in Visio provides a set of shapes and a template using a hand-drawn style for an informal, work in progress look.

Tool 1: SmartSize

SmartSize allows you to resize a set of shapes by example and allows them to be quickly selected and resized later.

Using the Tool

First, select the exemplar shape and adjust its size. Then select the other shapes in the set. Finally, press the SmartSize shortcut key. All of the shapes will now be the same as the first one selected.

In this diagram, Component 2 and Component 3 will be resized to be the same as Component 1

The three components are now resized and have been assigned a group number so that they can be resized as a group later.

Quickly Resizing Later

Select any member of the group and adjust its size. Then press the SmartSize shortcut key. The rest of the set will be selected. Press the shortcut key again and the set is resized to the first one selected.

Resize Component 3 then press the shortcut key. The rest of the group is selected.

Press the shortcut key again and they are now resized.

Whenever a set is resized, each shape is marked internally with a group number. When the shortcut key is used and there is only one shape selected, the tool first selects all the shapes in the same set. When the shortcut key is pressed again the routine carries out the resizing action.

Inspiration

I use this tool whenever I am working in Visio, especially when preparing context diagrams and structural representations. In these diagrams, having consistent shape sizes as the content in each shape is added means regular adjustments. While Visio has some resizing features, they are somewhat hidden and lack the resize by example and group management features seen here.

Learning about Visio

This was the first tool I built in Visio many years ago. It uses many of the shape management concepts that are used for more advanced tools.

The size of a shape is determined by the height and width values that you can see when you view its shapesheet. The tool uses a simple loop to step through the shapes in selection set. It finds the height and width of the first shape and assigns these values to the remaining shapes in the set. The looping, variable handling, and assignment of values to the shapesheet form the basis of most other Visio programming.

Tool 2: SmartAlign

SmartAlign allows you to align a set of shapes by example and allow them to be quickly realigned later.

Using the Tool

Select a shape that has been positioned correctly. Then select the other shapes that should align to it. Then press the SmartSize shortcut key. All the shapes are now aligned through the middle of the first. There is a separate shortcut key for vertical and horizontal alignment.

In this diagram Process 3 has moved and Process 1 and Process 2 have been selected for alignment

Using the shortcut key has realigned the shapes

This diagram shows that a similar shortcut key can be used for vertical alignment.

Quickly Realigning Later

Select any member of the alignment set and move it to its new location. Then press the shortcut key to reselect the rest of the alignment set. Then press the shortcut key again. The set now aligns with the first shape selected.

Whenever a set is aligned, each shape is marked internally with a group number. When the shortcut key is used and there is only one shape selected, the tool selects all the shapes in the same set. When the shortcut key is used again, the routine carries out the alignment action.

Inspiration

I use this tool whenever I am working in Visio, especially when process modelling and preparing framework and structural diagrams. The ability to quickly align and realign the same set of shapes can save a lot of time, especially as the model matures and the layout adapts. The Visio tools for alignment have improved over time, and work reasonably when initially laying out a model. They are not so great for making quick changes later.

Extending SmartAlign: Automatically Selecting Shapes

SmartAlign has an extension which allows you to automatically select shapes to align. This can be used when aligning shapes for the first time, or when you have a group of shapes and want to extend it to include additional items in the same band running across or down the page.

The first time you press the extension shortcut key, the routine selects those shapes that are most closely aligned the first shape selected. Pressing it again widens the selection to include an increasingly broader set of shapes. The fourth press returns you the start point if there are shapes selected that were not intended. There is a separate extension shortcut key for both horizontal and vertical alignment.

Learning about Visio

SmartAlign extends the concepts developed in SmartSize. It shares the looping concepts but adds the ability to programmatically call the Visio functions like alignment that are seen in the UI. A quick way of getting started is to use the macro recorder and then inspect the code that Visio generates itself. Another key feature this routine highlights is the ability to create and manage the content of custom property fields. These fields are used to store the identifiers that define sets used in SmartSize and SmartAlign. When a new group is identified, the internal GUID for first shape in the set is assigned to the property value in each of the others. If the property does not exist, it is created. Later, a routine in the code selects those shapes which have the same attribute as the one selected.

Tool 3: Break Links

Break Links removes the connections to a shape so that it can be moved without dragging the connectors with it. The end points of the connectors remain in their current location so that another shape can be dropped in its place. Usually, Visio will then automatically link the connectors to the new shape.

In this diagram, Process 4 has been selected, the Smart Tool Menu shortcut key pressed to show the menu and Break Links selected

Process 4 has been moved away and Process 5 can be inserted and the connectors linked to it automatically.

Inspiration

I use this tool regularly, especially in the early phases of process modelling when the structure is fluid and changes are frequent. I often need to move a process shape sideways to make room for another. Dragging the shape drags its connectors too, and this can be a pain, so it can be easier to break the connectors before the move.

Learning about Visio

This routine illustrates some key features of one dimensional shapes (connectors). When unconnected to a shape, the start and end coordinates point of a connector are expressed as (x,y) positions, however when connected, these end point s refer to locations on the shape it is connected to (its parent). To break the links, the routine determines the parent location as (x,y) coordinates and assigns these to the end points. This means the connector loses is parent link, but its endpoint remains in the same place.

Leadership Lessons: A 7 Phase Methodology – Phase 2 – Establish Rapport

Written by Peter de Jager on October 27, 2015. Posted in Articles.

Editor’s note: We will be showcasing each phase of Peter de Jager’s methodology in weekly posts. Click here for phase 1 and check back every week to read the next phase.

As someone involved with ‘selling’ the change, remember the lesson from sales. People buy from people they like. Do they trust you? Change management is an exercise in diplomacy.

Don’t have all the answers.

Change ‘agents’ have a tendency to outline the entire change. They see the change as something they ‘own’ and must, therefore, dictate the exact ‘solution’. A system written with the users input will ALWAYS have a better chance of success than a solution foisted upon them by an isolated IS. The role of a ‘change agent’ is to make change possible, not to define the change to be adopted.

Support empowerment

Empowerment means giving the target audience the option to make decisions. The flip side is that you, the change agent, must give up the desire to make all the decisions. The more you leave in the hands of the target audience, the more you build their sense of ownership.

Don’t ask for ‘buy in’

When you ask for ‘buy in’ you’ve already failed. It means you’re presenting them with both a need to change and the ‘solution.’ To be more precise, you are presenting them with your solution. You’ve invalidated any empowerment you may have created.

Seek out their ‘vision’

Again, this meets their need for ownership in the change. We resist change most when it leaves us powerless when we have no control over our future.

Identify influence leaders, early adapters, and resistors

Influence leaders are those whom others look to for guidance; they are not necessarily those early adapters that take to a new change first. Your time is best spent getting influencers to change, rather than catering to the early adapters or resistors. (Of course, sometimes you’ll be in a situation where the biggest resistor is also the biggest influencer.)

Change thinking: ‘Change Agent’ vs. ‘Inflictor of Change’

The term ‘change agent’ creates an image of a person on a mission. Another phrase more in keeping with the reality that change hurts is ‘change inflictor.’ It forces you to keep in mind your primary task is to disrupt the status quo. When you think like a ‘pain inflictor’ then you have one strong objective – reduce the pain. Consider your local dentist. His single goal is to minimize the pain experienced during a specific ‘change’. By showing concern for people’s reluctance to leave their status quo behind, you also reduce their resistance to the proposed change.

Leadership Lessons: Implementing Change – A 7 Phase Methodology – Phase 1

Written by Peter de Jager on October 20, 2015. Posted in Articles.

Editor’s note: We will be showcasing each phase of Peter de Jager’s methodology in weekly posts. Check back every week to read the next phase.

How should we implement change? It’s a simple enough question, surely there’s a simple answer — especially since we get to do it so often. Every time we implement a new system or install a new process, we’re implementing change. Surely there are some things that work, and some things that fail? Surely we’re intelligent enough to sift out the good from the bad? Perhaps.

We have a problem. We need to understand the deep mystical secrets of change implementation.

We know some of these secrets involve the target audience;

Making it their change, not your change; providing support during transition;
Celebrating small successes etc

Sounds like motherhood and apple pie. Perhaps that’s why we ignore them so often. But Robert Fulghum was very successful with a simple little book entitled ‘All I really need to know, I learned in kindergarten’. Perhaps we need to follow his advice and pay attention to the obvious and the simple.

Perhaps when it comes to Change, all we really need do is paraphrase Fulghum and state “All I really need to know about Change, I learned in my last failed implementation!” and add this commentary as a warning… “I ignore them at my own peril!”

When faced with Change, any Change, our immediate response is “How will it affect me?” Will it destroy a way of life, or just disrupt a sense of comfort? Will it threaten jobs, or will it just be perceived as threatening jobs? Does it matter if it is a perception rather than reality?

Everyone shares these simple, personal, self-preserving questions. Answer them and you’ve solved the problem of implementing Change. Ignore them and you guarantee yourself a difficult, if not impossible, transformation.

Related Article: Leadership Lessons: Change in Seven Questions

There are no silver bullets in change management. No guaranteed, money back solutions. Your change strategy will depend on the present situation, your history, the future you’re trying to create and how difficult you make the journey from here to there.

The bottom line is, there is nothing you can say to someone you’re about to layoff that will make them feel better. If you’re looking for such a solution, then you‘re looking for the Holy Grail, it doesn’t exist.

On the other hand, if you’re trying to get a target audience to accept a new way of doing things, a new system or a new set of standards, then there are partial solutions. Solutions that allow the target audience to gain some control over their destiny while implementing the necessary changes.

The following list of questions and suggestions are intended to entice you to think about the whole situation, past and present, not just the uncertain future you’re trying to build.

Phase I: Understand the Change

Before we implement change, it’s imperative we understand all the reasons for it. We must become experts in the change being proposed or reacted to, because people will look to us for answers. They might even look to us for guidance. At the very least “Is the change necessary?” will be asked by everyone impacted by it. It would be nice to have an answer.

What/Who is the Foreign Element?

The foreign element is the event, or person, which will disrupt the ‘way things were” otherwise known as the status quo. It’s dangerous to assume that the ‘foreign element’ is obvious to everyone. If the foreign element is misidentified, then the change will be more difficult to manage. This is sometimes another way of asking “What’s the real agenda?” If assumptions are made about why this change is being made, and these assumptions are wrong, it is likely the type of change implemented will not address either the real issue or that hidden reason for the change.

What happens if we don’t change?

What are the consequences if nothing changes? How certain are we that these consequences will take place? If the target audience does not believe the consequences will occur, or if the consequences have no noticeable positive or negative impact on them, they will not be motivated to move forward. People need to understand the real necessity for the change. Most people, when they understand the need to change is real, are unlikely, for reasons of self-preservation, to resist the change as strongly as those who believe the change is unnecessary.

Who is affected by the change?

Closely tied to the question of consequences. Will *I* be affected? If I’m not affected? Why should I change? It’s possible, and it happens often, that one way to reject change is to live under the belief that it doesn’t affect me personally. Identifying the ‘target audience’ is crucial to any change project.

When will the change take place?

The more imminent the change, the more people can relate and respond to it. Sometimes the only way to get people to accept that a change is ‘real’ is to attach a firm date for implementation. We’re all busy, our plates are filled with projects and important to-do items. If a change doesn’t have a deadline, if a priority has not been assigned, if budgets are nonexistent, then the change itself doesn’t really exist and it will be ignored. Distant change is less ‘real’ than imminent change.

Why now?

What forces this change upon us at this point in time. Why not next year? Why not last year? What makes it important that we act now? What is it about this foreign element that causes it to affect us today? If this change was really important, why didn’t we address it sooner? All of these questions, if answered properly, provide justification for the change. They legitimize it. If the answers aren’t readily available, you’re communicating to the target audience that this change is arbitrary.

How will the change affect us? Today? Tomorrow? In the long run?

This is another key question. Another version is “What’s in it for me?”

The 7 Wastes in Your Business – Finding Kaizen Opportunities

Written by Richard Lannon on September 21, 2015. Posted in Articles. 1 Comment on The 7 Wastes in Your Business – Finding Kaizen Opportunities

As a business, you are either efficient and effective, or you are not. It’s quite likely that there are things in your business environment you’d like to see work more smoothly, more efficiently. There are many reasons for poor processes and less productive business environments ranging from:

Lack of clarity on the part of the business leadership and senior management,
Performance management system structure and the way people are rewarded,
Poorly implemented initiatives, and
Business leaders who micro-manage (not letting people under them do their thing and make decisions).

Any one of these can be affecting your process and productivity. One helpful way of looking at process and productivity is in terms of finding Kaizen opportunities. Kaizen refers to a philosophy or practice that focuses on continuous improvement of working practices, personal efficiency, similar ideas.

When applied to the workplace, Kaizen involves all employees from the CEO to assembly line workers and refers to activities that continually improve all functions. It also applies to processes such as purchasing and logistics, which usually cross organizational boundaries.

Related Article: 7 Candid Questions That Need to be Asked

Generally, Kaizen looks at waste in some key categories with Seven Lean Approaches. These include:

Waste of Motion
Waste of Waiting
Waste in Transportation
Waste in Storage
Waste in Defects
Waste in Processing
Waste in Over Production

There are many examples of where the Kaizen approach can be applied from a staff driven perspective. From the manufacturing line of bottle cap disposal, making toast in the kitchen on a train, the health x-ray requisition approval process, to the location of office supplies storage. All these can be streamlined and standardized.

By improving standardized activities and processes, Kaizen aims to eliminate waste, thereby making your business more productive. And, as the Kaizen approach seeks to improve processes, productivity then is the yardstick by which you can measure your success.

If you can find ways to improve your processes, to become more efficient and effective, you will be more successful in your business.

Question: What work process can you focus on to improve to create better flow and enhance productivity?

BA-elzebub’s Glossary – The D’s

Written by Marcos Ferrer on September 14, 2015. Posted in Articles. 2 Comments on BA-elzebub’s Glossary – The D’s

Be sure to chip in some D’s of your own, and a few E’s for next time!

D’Oh!: The perfect attitude to take around any requirement error. Makes it easier to fix, especially when the BA takes it for the team.

The next three items were inspired by Ronald 2015-05-19 18:35

Data: The facts collected in the current system – usually the root cause of the need to replace the current system.

Data, Also: The opinion of the sponsor about the facts and how they should be discussed by the BAs, regardless of the facts.

Data, Choose Yours Wisely: Grasshopper.

Data Dictionary: One aspiration of certain social climbing Thesauri.

Thanks to Rich Larson of the BA Times 2015-05-19 15:57

Data Model: An activity that most BAs would prefer to the information designs they actually do. Not all BAs – you know who you are.

Data Base: Piccolo’s Prom dream?

DARPA: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency recently known for Driver Accident Reduction Pending Automation.

Inspired by Joe 2015-05-19 14:40

Deadline: A term of little meaning or consequence. A date picked with hope, in case hope really matters.

Thanks to to Rich Larson of the BA Times 2015-05-19 15:57

Decision: A behavior performed too fast or too slow by somebody not yourself.

Thanks to Rich Larson of the BA Times 2015-05-19 15:57

Diagram: What we turn to when words fail us. Do not confuse with ViagraMan. Not funny, unless you do it instead of me.

Decision Tree: Analytical technique complicated enough that the sponsor might get away with the weights selected for the branches, without anyone actually checking them.

Defect: Error NOT of design, BUT of execution, as in “That defect killed the wrong person.”

Delay: A period of time required to complete a project, regardless of the deadline.

Delete, CTRL-ALT: Also know as the “three finger salute”, it is a chance for your PC to die with its re-boots on.

Delete, Create, Read, Update: Analysis technique not also known as DCRU.

Delirium: See deadline.

Deliverable: An object substituted for results.

Deming, Edward: Guru of quality, singlehandedly responsible for YOUR preference (yes, you do) for Japanese cars. Famous saying: “Defects are not free. Someone makes them, and gets paid for making them.”

Devil’s Dictionary: A far better read than BA-elzebub’s poor efforts, by a delightful writer named Ambrose Bierce. Get a copy if you can.

Dirty Write: A form of preserving data integrity equivalent to “What the heck” (see Heck in this edition of the Glossary).

Disaster Recovery Plan: NOT “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out…”

With more thanks to Ronald 2015-05-19 18:35

Discovery: The phase when the project team works out which requirements weren’t.

Disinclination: One of many common reactions to working with requirements as in “It’s too much trouble to climb this inclination of mine.”

Disk Drive: Trip taken when the operations manager realizes that the only good backup is on her personal computer at home.

Disk, Floppy: A condition associated with OLD disks.Diskette: A cure for floppy disks.

Distracted Driving: Human driving.

Distributed Computing: A form of missed requirement, as in “I thought they were doing that over there on the other system.”

Domain, Business: The primary activities of the business, as in “Spying on do customers is do main business of FaceNet.”

Domain, Subject Matter Expert(s): Do main person(s) whose best thinking is responsible for the current state. Also known as “do box” one must “get out of”.

With thanks to steve 2015-06-25 06:45

Dormant: State of requirements or expectations that sleep soundly during elicitation and suddenly wake up hungry for BA-er meat during acceptance testing or thereafter

DoS: Denial of Stakeholder, as in “You can’t talk to THEM.”

Dragon: Adjective describing most meetings, not to be confused with:

Dragoon: The goon causing the meeting dragon.

Drive, Shared: Good luck, I’m sure its out there somewhere.

Duct Tape (aka Duck Tape): One of the big two cures in engineering. Unfortunately, it is completely completely useless in software engineering. You know, “If it’s stuck, spray it with WD-40, if it’s loose…”

With more thanks to Steve 2015-06-25 06:45

Dundant: The first time something occurs. For all the rest of the times, see redundant (and Einstein’s definition of insanity). Redundant things are superfluous, while dundant things are merely fluous.

Duplication of Effort: A real “boy” story, used by IT to avoid extra stress (hey, give them more budget and employees before you complain too much). Example from boy: “Why do I have to pick up my room? It will just get cluttered again!” Example from IT boys: “You shouldn’t implement that software – we will just have to replace it when we fix everything!”

Dubious Philosophy: I once read that it was Socrates who said “To be is to do”, and Plato who said “To do is to be”, but we had to wait for Sinatra to say “do be do be do”.

Dumb Ideas: There are none – leave your comments and thoughts below 🙂