I will be attending Convergence 2008 Copenhagen this week. It’s the premier Microsoft Dynamics event, bringing together customers, partners and Microsoft, to share experiences, gain insight into latest developments, discuss solutions and build community.
There are two Convergences each year, a European one traditionally held in Copenhagen in fall, and a US one, traditionally not held at the same place, but always held in spring.
Last Friday, while enjoying a not-at-all healthy Salisbury steak with cheese, I had an interesting discussion with a partner: should NAV consultancies create default databases?
A default database (in this context) is a packaged solution built upon standard Microsoft Dynamics NAV, where a consultancy has introduced a number of features that they sell to all their customers as the standard solution, instead of standard NAV. The modifications to standard NAV can range from simple report adornments to minor feature improvements to full-scale horizontal or vertical functionalities.
I’ve been blogging about Sure Step, talking about Sure Step, learning about Sure Step, teaching Sure Step, evangelizing Sure Step, here on this blog, in online columns, at conferences, presentations, (pre-)sales calls, with partners, with customers, in one-on-one contacts, e-mails, Linked In, Facebook, Squidoo (haven’t tweeted about it yet, but that’s to come).
I believe in Sure Step.
But what I think might not be important at all. I am just an average joe out there voicing his opinion.
What do you think of Sure Step?
Has it worked for you? Has it not?
What do you like about it? What don’t you like about it?
Why?
Go ahead, share your thoughts!
One of many improvements the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step methodology has brought along is the revised purpose of the Functional Requirements Document (FRD). This document has long served as cornerstone of every Analysis process of every implementation project: it was the main deliverable of the Analysis phase and it both documented customer’s requirements and explained how they will be met with Microsoft Dynamics NAV solution.
Don’t you just love when users come up with new feature ideas at a microprocessor clock rate. Even before you finish developing one, five new requests pop up. This is a disease, and it’s called featuritis!
Some time back, as I was riding a taxi from Prague airport to Holiday Inn hotel, I wondered about the fixed price I was about to pay for the ride.
– “Airport to city is 700 flat.” – said the driver when I asked how much approximately will it cost.
Common wisdom goes that flat rates mean you get it worse than if it wasn’t flat. Indeed, if it was on meter, and if the driver took the shortest route (I had a GPS device on me, I could’ve easily checked it!), the fare would’ve been lower. And yet, I decided I loved the flat rate.
Last week, my friend Dave Roys a.k.a. Gaspode has been awarded the prestigious MVP award. MVP stands for Most Valuable Professional, and Microsoft grants this award to distinguished professionals as recognition to their invaluable contribution to Microsoft community.
Recently, a reader, commenting on my last post about Sure Step, pointed me to an article by Karl E. Wiegers
“Read My Lips: No New Models!” I initially responded to the comment, but I figure the comments aren’t read as often as posts, so I decided to blog it.
It’s doubly funny that the reader is using Dr. Wiegers to devalue and dismiss Sure Step: firstly, the article has really nothing to do with implementation methodologies at all, and secondly, when I delivered Sure Step training at WinDays pre-conf earlier this year, I gave to each attendant a copy of Karl E. Wiegers’s latest book “Practical Project Initiation”—at the time it was the best book available that matched both the message of my training and the point of Sure Step as a methodology.
Each phase of Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step methodology is equally important in an implementation project. You could argue that analysis is the most important, or that design is the most important, or that operation is less important. I’ll paraphrase Scott Adams here and ask: how one phase can be more important if each of them is completely necessary? Well, except for Diagnostic phase.
Have you considered a career in Microsoft Dynamics? Yes, I know, many of you have are most likely already happily employed by a Microsoft partner company specializing in Microsoft Dynamics solutions. Good.