John Simpson
Director of Marketing and Customer Outreach, Jama Software 

Webinar Summary: Ryma's April 29th Webinar was presented by John Simpson. Join John for a flash presentation or podcast and gain insights into:

• What are the biggest innovation challenges companies face?
• Where are companies getting their next great product ideas?
• What are the top barriers to success for managing requirements?
• Which metrics matter most when measuring success?
• Is Agile for real or over-hyped? Which processes are people really using?
• How does collaboration apply to requirements management?
• What frustrates people more - scope creep, unrealistic expectations or lack of testing?

The trend data that John will share is based on an industry survey conducted with over 200 professionals in the summer of 2008. Attendees of the webinar will receive a complimentary copy of the current "State of Requirements Management Report".

Request a copy of the current full report now:

Then as a follow-up, you will be invited to participate in the upcoming 2009 State of Requirements Management Survey to gauge how things have changed over the past 12 months - from the impact of the economy to the adoption of Agile techniques. In the 2009 survey, we will explore the challenges, strategies and tactics that teams are using to survive and succeed at building great software.

About the Presenter: John represents the voice of customers and leads the product strategy at Jama.  John has over 12 years experience working at software technology companies including Microsoft, WebTrends and Omniture.  He has contributed to several books, whitepapers and presentations on Web technology, product management and marketing.  On a personal note, John is an Ambassador for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a delegate for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and an active fundraiser for cancer research within his local community in Portland, Oregon where he lives with his wife and three kids. 

Click here to download John's Slides

Recently a new Requirement Definition CoP (Community of Practice) has been created in LinkedIn. Within this group, there are many opportunities to contribute to this exciting field through providing leadership and defining new methods. #RQCoP is this community's hashtag on Twitter.

Please contribute any questions or comments to the comment section on this blog post.

ByronWorkman: #innovation #agile #pmi http://budurl.com/xjny Webinar at 11:00 CT- impact that RM has on innovation. #pmv is the twitter hashtag. about 3 hours ago
ByronWorkman: Getting ready to tweet #pmv webinar -http://budurl.com/xjny Feel free to participate in the conversation even if your not attending webinar.about 2 hours ago
Jim_Holland: Prepaing to join and tweet todays #pmv webinar http://budurl.com/xjny - Please join if you have time.about 2 hours ago
ByronWorkman: #pmv First webinar from Requirement Definition CoP http://budurl.com/xjny just started @jamasoftware is presenter.about 2 hours ago
ByronWorkman: Goal of todays webinar is to help get industry perspective for PM community #pmv #prodmgmt how does PM play in innovation life-cycle?about 2 hours ago
ValWorkman: #PMV Webinar just starting.about 2 hours ago
ValWorkman: #PMV Role of Product Manager can be broken down into multiple roles in the survey about 2 hours ago
mack_mccoy: Attending The State of Requirements Management & its Impact on Innovation http://bit.ly/w0VWQ. Sounds great thus far! #PMV about 2 hours ago
ValWorkman: #PMV Survey of 200 professionals about 2 hours ago
ByronWorkman: #pmv product innovation- a companies ability to build great products, resonates with end customer, meet and satisfy needs of end user. about 2 hours ago
Jim_Holland: #pmv Some information on Jama Software. Nice touch using personas on their website. http://bit.ly/7Sql5 about 2 hours ago
ValWorkman: #PMV Content 100m pages of content in a goggle search on innovation about 2 hours ago
ValWorkman: #PMV 70% say innovation is a top priority about 2 hours ago
Jim_Holland: #pmv The survey looks at hype vs. reality. The 1st question asked, "what is your company's biggest challenge when it comes to innovation?"about 2 hours ago
Jim_Holland: #pmv no. 1 answer - "gaining a clear understanding of the market."about 2 hours ago
ValWorkman: #PMV Customer needs is key inhibitor to innovation. about 2 hours ago
Jim_Holland: #PMV 34% Say the read the market. 32% of company's are risk takers about 2 hours ago
ByronWorkman: Takeaway from Q1 -fundamentals of RM still apply, with all hype on other parts of PM, RM identified as biggest challenge to innovation #PMV about 2 hours ago
jbrett: @Jim_Holland wish I could be on this call today...looks like an interesting one... #PMV about 2 hours ago
Jim_Holland: #pmv Is a fast follower the same as a company that is trying to drag race the competition? about 2 hours ago
Jim_Holland: #pmv Survey says, "largest source of new product ideas and reqs is "Customer and Partner feedback"about 2 hours ago
Jim_Holland: #pmv 71% Customer feedback 59% Internal product teams 46% Visionary exec. 32% R&D studies. Interesting that we use too much internal info. about 2 hours ago
ByronWorkman: #pmv when was the last time you touched base with a stakeholder of your project/product? Collaboration with stakeholders is innovation key about 2 hours ago
ValWorkman: #PMV Major R&D investments didn't produce high ROI in innovation about 2 hours ago
gbarrow30305: #pmv customer needs is often misconstrued as stakeholder needs or, in other words, what the bus thinks the cust needs about 2 hours ago
ValWorkman: @gbarrow30305 #PMV I think this is the missing link in most req management processes. The PM must be involved here. about 2 hours ago
ByronWorkman: as project scope size increases, and team size increases, success tends to decrease. Any thoughts on why #PMV about 2 hours ago
ValWorkman: #PMV As scope increases and Team size Increases => product success decreasesabout 2 hours ago
Jim_Holland: #pmv "Change is a reality. You manage it, or it manages you" about 2 hours ago
trevorrotzien: @gbarrow30305 #pmv Agreed. Also often confusion between actual end-user needs and buyer "needs" (expectations)about 2 hours ago
ByronWorkman: How much time do you spend handling changes in requirements. some find this answer a hindering to customer involvement- to much change #pmv about 2 hours ago
Jim_Holland: #pmv Let's talk success metrics - how do you measure success? 83% thru Customer Sat. 44% thru QA 39% thru Revenue about 2 hours ago
gbarrow30305: @Jim_Holland stakeholder collab can thwart innov bc stakeholders often represent internal thinkg that doesn't align with cust needs #pmv about 2 hours ago
ByronWorkman: If you don't have an efficient way to handle changes to requirements, you are not going to be able to get input from customers/others. #pmv about 2 hours ago
ByronWorkman: How can your product be successful if you haven't come to consensus on what metric will measure success? #pmv about 2 hours ago
trevorrotzien: @ByronWorkman #pmv Team size increase inherently raises communication & coordination costs, friction, noise -> increase in proj failure rate about 2 hours ago
Jim_Holland: #PMV Frustrations - 31% Scope creep 40% Poorly defined reqs 43% unrealistic expectations. This is why product fail and company go "buh bye"about 2 hours ago
gbarrow30305: @trevorrotzien interesting pt...i've worked at b2b co's where user needs were ignored bc buyer had so much influence in purch decision #pmv about 2 hours ago
Jim_Holland: #pmv "what is the customer really trying to say?" @Jim_Holland We need to be quiet and really listen and not assume or think we know.about 2 hours ago
cdjulia: #pmv webinar "The State of Requirements Management and its Impact on Innovation" about 2 hours ago
Jim_Holland: #pmv Interesting that development methods are a mixed bag. @Jim_Holland Is PM driving products or the development method? about 2 hours ago
gbarrow30305: RT @Jim_Holland: #pmv "what is the customer really trying to say?" We need to be quiet and really listen and not assume or think we know. about 2 hours ago
ByronWorkman: Most companies use a mixture of process methodologies. In product development. #pmv about 2 hours ago
Jim_Holland: #pmv "Interesting that a fifth grader uses the same tools as PM and Dev to manage requirements."about 2 hours ago
jwia: RT @Jim_Holland: #pmv "what is the customer really trying to say?" We need to be quiet and really listen and not assume or think we know. about 2 hours ago
ValWorkman: #PMV What % of developers out there are using pairing? about 2 hours ago
gbarrow30305: @trevorrotzien i am going write a blog post re: user versus market personas...i think this is an idea that needs some fleshing out #pmv about 2 hours ago
Jim_Holland: #pmv "Documents dominate" @Jim_Holland Sad that the "old paper shuffle still exists after decades of evolutionary products."about 2 hours ago
Jim_Holland: #pmv "there's no substitute for the fundamentals and Customers really to rule (matter)"about 2 hours ago
ValWorkman: #PMV Pairing: team development, two developers working together side by side about 2 hours ago
Jim_Holland: #pmv "Change and complexity need to be managed - deal with it. Change happens and we need to drive change."about 2 hours ago
ByronWorkman: #PMV People have learned to modify the way they use MS Office products to increase the success of the product development efforts...about 2 hours ago
ByronWorkman: #PMV RM vendors need to understand that their customers are not proficient with modifying the vendors tools or the customers processes...about 2 hours ago
haigtweets: #PMV Really great webinar today byJohn Simpson about 2 hours ago
mack_mccoy: @Jim_Holland Do you find customers don't always know their pains? I think IDEO's anthropological method is useful for uncovering needs. #pmv about 2 hours ago
ByronWorkman: #pmv vendor needs to address change adoption. Change adoption is not a factor in using MS office products, it is with using new software about 2 hours ago
ByronWorkman: Thanks John Simpson (@jamasoftware) for the webinar and review of State of Requirements Management Survey #pmv about 2 hours ago
Jim_Holland: #pmv Thanks for a great webinar. Could thought provoking survey content. Nice preso.about 2 hours ago
ValWorkman: @evanj Thanks for you participation in today's webinar. #pmv about 1 hour ago
SusanZelinski: RT @Jim_Holland #pmv "Change is a reality. You manage it, or it manages you" about 1 hour ago
evanj: we're passionate about collaboration and model building at Bell about 1 hour ago
evanj: #pmv thanks for a very good presentation about requirements and innovation about 1 hour ago
evanj: #pmv Scope creep, missed or missunderstood needs, etc. plague projects. We hope requirements will help. Do we know they do?about 1 hour ago
ValWorkman: @haigtweets #pmv Requirement Definition CoP http://bit.ly/wfvcy and Requirement Validation CoP http://bit.ly/Nksny groups in LinkedIn about 1 hour ago