English – Nederlands

I’ve registered for the DREAM15 event being held in Vianen, on the 8th of October, 2015, in the Netherlands. And I am looking forward to it!

What’s DREAM?

DREAM is an acronym for Dutch Requirements Engineering And Management.

It’s an initiative that was set up, in the Netherlands, in 2008. Originally spearheaded by Atos, but is now supported and run by representatives from different organisations, with the goal of sharing knowledge and best practices surrounding Requirements Engineering and Management.

So … what’s DREAM15 then?

Dream15 is the sixth conference that Dream has organised. This year there will be three main topics:

• Business Analysis – Business analysis has to do with change in organisations from identifying the changes that are needed and creating suitable solutions through to the implementation of the solution and subsequent analysis of its effectiveness.
• Best practices – following proven/accepted standards helps reduce errors, and keeps unexpected problems to a minimum.
• Methods, techniques and tools – What methods can Business Analysts use, what techniques are handy for the BA, and what tools are available.

Ok … what are these 22 reasons why you are attending?

Where to start?

1. Great keynote speeches

Opening Keynote

The conference is kicking off with a keynote speech by Paul Turner. Paul Turner!!! He’s one of the authors of “Business Analysis Techniques (99 Essentials Tools for Success)“. (This book is my go-to book for BA techniques. It should be in the bookcase of every Business Analyst).

Paul is also the Director of AssistKD. (Check out their site, there’s tons of great resources there.)

Paul will be talking about systems thinking and the soft systems approach, concentrating on how they can be used to add value to the Business Analyst.

Closing keynote

At the end of the conference, Theo Severien is going to give a presentation on organizational improvement from an holistic point of view. that is – when changes are implemented, the order of attention is people – > business – > information – > systems.

Theo will be going further into how this is all possible using a mixture of philosophy, theory and practical examples. It sounds fascinating. I’m definitely hanging around for this one.

2. Great sessions

There are 16 sessions that are spread across 4 streams.
(One of the sessions is still to be filled).

This is frustrating, because  I want to see all the sessions, but because they are running in parallel, I’ll have to make a choice…

There’ll be (in no particular order):

a PhD student, from Utrecht University, presenting on quality levels in user stories, and a web application that the University has created to check this automatically

a presentation on digital litigation and the impact that will have on UX and also on requirements.

a chance to learn about, and practice, brainwriting

an in-depth look at Specifications by Example and how they were used, at bol.com, to bridge the communication gap between stakeholders and developers.

one of the Netherlands’ largest banks (ABN AMRO) presenting how it implemented a central requirements management tool to accommodate multiple projects, multiple BAs, multiple regulations, and many, many requirements.

an “exploration” of the correct detail level for requirements in an Agile environment

a look at how Business Analysis techniques such as Impact Analysis can be used to improve the bureaucratic Dutch government system of registrations (“stelsel van basisregistraties“)

two interesting presentations that cover complexity, and how the Cynefin framework can be used.

a discussion about the “uncovering” of requirements hidden in business processes.

a look at how Behavior Driven Development (BDD) was used inside an Agile environment.

a process simulation and game using … socks

the chance to see how the national railway company in the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen) was able to guarantee quality in its requirements enineering.

presentations by Synergio and also by Atos.

3. Great sponsors

I’ll get a chance to visit the stands of some of the top companies, in the Netherlands, in this field, and see what they can offer…

This includes: Atos, Devoteam, Entrador, Le Blanc Advies, Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Synergio, iSQI, IREB, Jama, Microfocus, Mithun, PNA, The Future Group

4. Learning

I always love the opportunity to get together with like-minded people. It can be very inspiring as everyone speaks the same language.

There’s always a great chance to learn something. Whether at the sessions mentioned above, or by listening to the keynote speeches, or challenging the vendors, or talking with other attendees. 

5. Making New Friends and Networking

This event will be an excellent chance to meet new people. my goal is always to meet as many people as I can in the time.

6. Conversations

As mentioned in the previous “reason”, we’re all in the same game. We all talk the same talk. I look forward to asking others what they do, and why. What techniques they prefer. Whether they think Agile is “the answer”, or whether Waterfall has its place.

Having a conversation is one of the most dynamic, and enriching things that we can do. And often I have discovered that, just by having a conversation, valuable things have come from it.

Where’s it being held?

The Dream15 event will be held at Hotel Vianen

Where can you learn more?

• Check out the DREAM website
• Download the DREAM flyer

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So – those are the 22 reasons I’m going to DREAM. (I know – there are only 6 listed above, but if you count the keynotes and the sessions, there are 22 reasons).

I’ll be blogging while I’m there, so if you someone frantically scribbling notes, and dashing back and forth between sessions, then that’s probably me. Feel free to say Hello.