Current-state documentation has a reputation for producing thick reports that sit on a shared drive. The reason is usually not the quality of the documentation. It is that the work stopped before it reached a decision.
A path in six steps
- Understand the business areas and what they need from their systems
- Analyse the architecture, integrations and process flows as they exist
- Map how work and documents move between people and systems
- Identify gaps, shortcomings and redundancy
- Recommend specific improvements
- Plan the order in which those improvements should happen
Keep the business in the frame
The technical view answers what is connected to what. The business view answers why it matters. A recommendation that ignores the second question is difficult to prioritise, and easy to defer.
Sequence is part of the recommendation
Recommendations are more useful when they arrive with an order of execution. Some improvements unlock others. Some carry dependencies on third parties. Some can be done quickly and build momentum. Stating the sequence turns a list of ideas into a plan a programme can act on.
This article reflects general industry perspective and does not describe any client’s confidential information.