Pirates of Build

Hohoho honored pirates!

This blog post is about pirates, a treasure map and the Black Pearl as a ship, with which we get through foreign seas and brave the wild waves of the world’s oceans.

In other words, a trip (project) is about fulfilling a mission (ALM).
Welcome to the world of “Pirates of Build”.

All right? Or do you still not know what I’m talking about, maybe the following big picture will help you to keep the course.

SAP Activate and Focused Build with SAP Solution Manager

Source: SAP

Well, then let the journey begin – pirates set sail!

Source: https://www.mightygamesmag.de/pirates-of-the-caribbean-tides-of-war-heute-veroeffentlicht/

The Treasure Map – We have a plan

What we need first?

A plan, of course, or even better, a treasure map. We need to know which island we will sail first and which stages are necessary for our journey.

On this long journey we collect the coins of the lost “Aztec Gold”. Each coin makes us richer (especially in terms of experience) and encourages us to find more coins. The treasure map is shown below. Islands 2, 4 and 7 are particularly important and defined as milestones, which is why you will also find valuable Aztec gold there.

The ship (Focused Build)

Next we need a ship. Not just any ship, of course. It has to be the Black Pearl (Focused Build) with all of its features. With the help of the Black Pearl we steer over the waters and brave the high waves to get safely to the next destination.

Source: https://www.menzels-lokschuppen.de/Modellbau/Bausaetze-Segelschiffe/Revell-05499-Black-Pearl.html 

Source: SAP

The Team

We come to the most important thing – the team. It is important to clarify which roles we need on the ship and what needs to be done by whom. We have to equip this team with everything it needs to fulfill its tasks.

Below the roles on the ship:

• A Captain: This role can help, but is not mandatory. Much more important is the team as a whole, which can make decisions with distributed, flat hierarchies even without a captain.
• The customer: Defines the goal and what have to be achieved withing the journey.
• FB Business Analyst: People who plan and prepare a journey/stage early.
• FB Architect: A person who knows the structure of the ship and knows the dangers on the seas very well.
• FB Developer / Customizer: People who work on the daily work that need to be done on the ship.
• FB Test Manager: A person who sets rules and prescriptions on the ship and controls how well the work is done.
• FB Tester: Check whether what the FB Business Analysts have prepared has actually been implemented and give valuable feedback.
• FB Release Manager: An extremely important person for planning the stages, especially controls the transition between the stages of a trip.
• A strong team in the machine room: This team works in the background, but is an important success factor. If there are technical problems on the trip that have to be solved quickly and easily, the team intervenes.

Source: https://pirates.fandom.com/wiki/Mutiny

The stage planning (wave planning)

As usual on the high seas, it is important to plan a stage in advance. This includes special attention to the loading of the ship. Here it is advisable to load the ship for one stage only with the necessary things that are relevant for the respective stage.

It is important to set the goal for each stage right from the beginning.

Source: SAP

From bow to stern (Requirements to Deploy)

The processes on the ship have to be clearly defined, that means the process from bow to stern is required (Requirements to Deploy). It is important that everything runs hand in hand and that the transitions between roles and tasks are clearly settled.

Source: Own illustration, based on https://www.esys.org/bigship/Karavelle.html

The compass as a guide

The compass is important to know the right direction at all times. This is done with a Focused Build Coach who helps to keep the course and always keeps an eye on the vision and long-term goals. If you don’t know what to do, the Focused Build Coach helps with his knowledge, experience and network.

Source: https://fluch-der-karibik.fandom.com/wiki/Jack_Sparrows_Kompass

I hope you enjoyed this story and the insight into the life of the “Pirates of Build” and that this story showed what you have to think about for such a trip.

In this sense: Off to new adventures!

Jack Sparrow

Source: http://www.filmstarts.de/nachrichten/18530431.html

Source: Own illustration, based on https://www.ln-online.de/Nachrichten/Brennpunkte/Angeblicher-Piratenschatz-vor-Madagaskar-entdeckt

Other blog posts by this author:

• From Requirements to Deploy
• Requirements Engineering for SAP Solutions
• Building up End-to-End processes in SAP Solution Manager 7.2