“What you’re telling me from Macroscope isn’t identical to what My-Favorite-Guru tweeted yesterday, so you’re wrong!”

So How would Macroscope Help?

With a different tone in his voice, the PMO Manager went on, “Even so, I’m afraid I don’t see how all the Macroscope templates would solve those issues.”

“If Macroscope were only a collection of templates, I’d agree with you completely”, replied the greybeard. “How could you expect to be inspired in best practices by just filling in a template? That would be like expecting the hammer to hit the nail by itself. Macroscope is designed to work with any decent PM tool – but the tool is only a useful part of a bigger picture.”

Well okay, how about the special aspects of mobile apps?

• Non-functional requirements. I need to be particularly sure about my client’s needs for response time, peak loads, availability, and the user interface. If I look at the User and Developer Principles deliverables (P240S and P261S) – I’ll see all the non-functional questions I need to consider. And if follow the “Applicable Techniques” link – I’ll find a very nice little mini-text on how to design a user interface. And it’s all both specific and generalized enough that it works for mobile apps. Check.
• Security. Mobile apps are particularly exposed to information disclosure and malware. If I review the Security discipline drop-down in the Solution, plus the specialized System Security deliverable (P310S), again I’ll see many things we need to consider. I will need specialized knowledge from my technology architect and my security specialist to come up with the right decisions, but I think the triggers are all there. Check.
• Technology. There are many choices and several layers to consider. So I’ll need to look carefully at the Technology Infrastructure (P370S) and the Software Architecture (P219S). Again I will need specialized knowledge from my architect of course, but I think all the questions we need to consider are there in front of us.

So what doesn’t Macroscope have to support mobile apps?

We had a question from a client recently – had we done anything to Macroscope related to mobile application development.

Reality Check – We Don’t Have Such Documentation

Okay, we did make a big assumption there. So they took me back to their real world.