Category Archives: Project Management

Electronic Lab Notebook Requirements – possible pitfalls

By Simon Coles | Published: March 2, 2010
Project teams have been drawing up lists of requirements since the dawn of time, and since that first list the fate of a project has to a great extent been sealed the moment the requirements have been finalized. I wrote this article by accident but I thought it was worth blogging as it explores the specific problems with requirements gathering and RFPs in the ELN industry and suggests some probably unrealistically hopeful solutions. Wouldn't it be delightful if RFPs contained a final sections with questions such as:
  • “If you could remove 5 of our requirements what would they be and why?”
  • “What are the most expensive/troublesome requirements listed above?”
  • “Which of these requirements do you think we don’t really need, based on your experience of similar projects?”
  • “What are we missing?”
  • “If you were us, what are the three things you would be most worried about going forward?”
  • “Please rate our chance of success if we go with you, and if we go with another vendor, with reasons”
Also posted in Industry, RFPs | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Presentation: Survey of the ELN Landscape

By Simon Coles | Published: January 27, 2010
Here’s my presentation on “Surveying the ELN Landscape” from the SMI ELN Conference in London today. Bullet points: Business drivers Comparing the different sectors and disciplines Build or buy? An overview of the solution space Patterns of success There’s a few concepts in here which deserve their own posts (presentations are so useful for stimulating the creative juices!) which hopefully I [...]
Also posted in ELN Design, Industry, Recent Conferences | 1 Comment

The Toaster Parable

By Simon Coles | Published: January 20, 2010
We give a number of workshops around the world which have fancy titles but in the end they are all about “How not to screw up an ELN project”. In this we use the example of the humble toaster to bring home the fact that an ELN project team are specifying something for the people [...]
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My “Are ELNs doomed?” Presentation at IQPC

By Simon Coles | Published: September 30, 2009
Our marketing dept signed me up to do a presentation to the general session at IQPC in Brussels, with the rather provocative title “Are ELN projects Doomed?”. Um, thanks guys. No real guidance on what to say, but an expectation it will be provocative! I’ve become increasingly concerned that what’s said in public forums (e.g. articles, [...]
Also posted in Architecture, ELN Design, Recent Conferences | 3 Comments

My workshop at IQPC Brussels yesterday

By Simon Coles | Published: September 29, 2009
Jo and I gave a workshop on “ELNs in Biology” which people seem to enjoy. My thanks to the attendees who not only listened to what we had to say but contributed their own expertise and experience too which greatly enriched the experience for all involved. We didn’t know what the attendees were going to want [...]
Also posted in Architecture, ELN Design, Recent Conferences | Leave a comment
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