This week we will discuss business rules type, which will reveal what you need to acquire in order to create your product or get (keep) your service going.

This could be one time (or one at a time) purchase when you launch or make a change in your business, or it can be a regular purchase like olive oil and salt if you own a restaurant.

There is something you will discover when you start defining more than one type of business rules. You will discover that the business rules are not simply a list of rules. When you make decisions about your product or service you rather define a network of rules.

For example, you might have thought after last week’s post that you know your team inside your company and you know it outside your department as well, such as all your partners, sub-contractors, suppliers and you know (at least to a degree) your customer.

But when you look at what you need to purchase and get hold of for your business to operate successfully, then you might find out that there is a person or role, of whom  you haven’t thought before, but whom you need in your project team. And you might have already asked yourself last week what materials, software, hardware, etc. you might need to acquire for your project team to function.

Again including your customer. What hardware or environment does your customer need in order to be able to use your app, for example? Or will you assure that you produce an app working on any kind of hardware? Then you would need to get hold of this “any” kind of hardware in order to test your app.

There are obvious things and means you will immediately know of needing as soon as think of your product. A hair-dresser will need scissors, hair brushes and combs. A writer will need a notebook, a pen, a computer, a printer, etc. There will be variations too, depending on your preferences to carry out the work. If you are a writer, you might prefer to make handwritten notes on your book or even write it by hand (as I sometimes do, but not this time), or you might be a writer who types your text immediately (as I do it this time). If you are a computer gig of a writer, then you would not need as many pens as a hand-writing writer. And with computers of course, you would think of a model to use, then of a software to purchase.

And sometimes you need to go there and back in your decisions. For example, I am used to Windows® and I am simply lazy to learn a new for me system like Apple®. So I have a Windows computer. At the beginning I used Microsoft Word® for my writing, but after much praise from others and after giving a very skeptical (at the beginning) try to Scrivener (a software used widely by writers of various genres), I fell in love with this software and use it for any piece of writing I am doing (like today). When I formatted my first novel for publishing I discovered that Scrivener® for Windows didn’t have some of the functionalities, which Scrivener for Mac had.

Complaining didn’t help. I needed a solution. If I would know about Scrivener before purchasing my current computer, I might have bought a Mac. Maybe not. At least now, after finding out what I can do to format well, without purchasing a new computer and go around those missing and useful functionalities, I might as well stay with Windows, even at the point when I will need a new laptop.

So decide in the circumstances you are, and try to think a few steps ahead. But maybe not too many. Concentrate on the solutions and possibilities.

This was about the obvious means for your product and service.

But there is something extremely important to acquire in order to guarantee success for your product and service, and which rarely pops up inside our minds as the first requirement.

And this something is knowledge.

Some of you might nod at this and some might ask, “Huh, what do you mean by that?”

There is a two-fold meaning for knowledge here.

First of all you have to find out what you need to have in place in order to start with production or roll out the service.

I guarantee, you will be surprised along the way.

I was shocked to find out that for technical documentations, S1000D® (International specification for technical publications), as a standard, was not enough. Not only there were other standards on how to capture data on parts and materials, and how to capture correctly the language so it is correctly understood by operators of a complex machinery, such as an airplane. But there were standards prescribing the formatting of the information at its output.

Even today, more than ten years after, I can remember almost each word of the questions I put when confronted with this information at the German Defense department I have been working between 2004 and 2006. “Doesn’t S1000D define exactly how you have to format each tiny little bit of text and data? Why do we have to follow another standards as well? Aren’t those outdated? Why not just following S1000D?”

The answer was friendly and precise. “Well, first of all S1000D is a specification, which means that everything inside it can be followed but doesn’t have to. And the definition it offers are sometimes not precise enough.” A few years later the text in S1000D went even further saying that the output and formatting definitions were recommendations and not rules.

And I learned about the cases, where the “violation” of those recommendations was vital.

One of the most prominent examples in this respect are warnings.

According to S1000D (Issue 4.1, Chapter 3.9.3):

“Warnings are used in data modules and technical publications to alert the user that possible hazard are associated with the materials/processes/procedures/limits. These can cause death or injury in any form if the instructions in the operational or procedural task are not followed precisely. Warnings describe the hazards and the possible impact.”

So understandably the standard way to format them is in red colour. Usually a frame around it warning red. But you wouldn’t want to mark your warnings in red on submarines. At least on those, where red light is used for interior lighting while in combat. Even if you might not quite understand the physics behind the good reason why they do it (find out more here), you want to make sure that the crew on the submarine you produce is safe and is warned correspondingly on possible dangers during its operation.

How do you acquire knowledge about what you need? Yes, by research and interviewing the others who do it. You might think that competitors would be afraid to give you any particular details, but you will be surprised how much valuable information you will get, because many want to share their lessons learned and warn of the pit-falls.

But knowing what you need is not enough. There is another aspect to knowing. As soon as you find out what you need, you have to find out more details about what you need.

In the example above with the rule of how to format and present warnings inside a submarine, it is not enough to know that there is a particular rule, you need to know what the rule is about.

It is not enough to know that some of the mobile phone batteries are not allowed to be used in the country of your residence and business, you have to know which those are, so that you don’t put the wrong batteries into the mobiles you want to sell.

It is not enough to know that there is a certain slang the young adults use these days, you have to know the words and how they are used in order to write an appealing book for young adults.

And here is another surprise. When you learn more about what you need for your product or service, you might find out that there are people, materials, hardware, software and many other, whom and which you would need as well and haven’t thought before.

Of course you need to focus on a feasible minimum and make a start. Endless planning and deciding will not launch your product or service. You need to decide on the qualitative minimum and see how the demand will shape what you offer for sale.

Yes, starting and running a business is a strategy game. As well as the definition of business rules. It is a strategy game too. And next week we will make our next move.

This post is a part of “Business rules: General”, copyright © 2015-2016 by Victoria Ichizli-Bartels

Last week I’ve shared with you one possible way how to define different types of business rules. This week I would like to address the management aspect of business rules.

If all the other types of business rules are mostly about the product or service and its state inside its life-cycle, the management business rules are about people.

Q: Who is going to be involved into the project (project being anything targeted to bring our product/service into existence)? Please note: you need to answer this question both on organizational (company) and personal levels.

Q: What are the responsibilities of each organization/company/team/person? What do they have to deliver, in what state, when, how often, etc.?

Q: What do the partners in the project need to correspond to their responsibilities? What do you have to provide to them that your collaboration gives results? Are any delays expected? Should you plan for possible delays?

Q: Do you have a plan B if someone cannot keep the given promise? Do you know whom you could address on a short notice to fulfil the task of your initial partner?

Q: How often do you and your partners in the project have to exchange the data, parts of product, etc., to reach your goals? What are the criteria for these types of exchanges?

For example, in S1000D and other environments for technical data, the frequency of data updates differs for simple editorial changes and technical changes which might affect life and health of the user, or damage the product. This particular decision will link to another type of business rules where you would need to decide what editorial or minor changes are. That would be the Quality Assurance rules, and in our definition of business rules types this can be found in decisions made upon the production and sustainment process of the given product or service.

You might come up with more questions you need to answer when you think about building internal and external teams to partner in creating the product/service you have in mind.

The easiest way to identify those questions is when they relate to a human being and his or her role in your project.

I would strongly recommend that you find the vital members of your team before you start making any further decisions on your product or service. Ask them if they want to work with you and if they have time.

And before I say goodbye to you for today, let me remind you that the customer, the end-user of your product, or a person who will use your service, must be considered as a part of this team. You might also want to get this person, or a person who represents your customers, to look through your business rules, and give their good advice on the feasibility of your product or service. Or at the very least you should be willing to listen to your first customers and realize that they are the testers of your product (if you didn’t have any before the launch of your product or service). These testers will help you improve your product or service to the quality and having features strongly searched for and not always found.

This post is a part of “Business rules: General”, copyright © 2015-2016 by Victoria Ichizli-Bartels

After the last week’s post on business rules you might say, “OK, so now I know that I have to be kind to my customer and know how to identify that gap between what my customer wants and what I have to offer. But what exactly do I have to decide upon? What types of decisions are there to　make　so that　my products　and services　are as desired, both by customer and by me?”

“Ah,” I answer. “We need to talk about various business rules types.”

There are many different ways how to categorize business rules. Probably as many as there are people on Earth. Or even more, because every one of us might define several of each type. Yes, there are probably no definitions of business rule types　carved in stone. Because you can group all those aspects on the product/service’s details simply as you like.

But I guess this answer　won’t help you.

S1000D® (International specification for technical publications), to which I will be referencing now and　again in these posts,　offers ten categories with specific titles and often specific for S1000D purposes.

Since you are my customer for this information and your main requirement is that I explain this using the simplest terms possible, I decided to search for a method that will give you a clue to the most important issues to be taken into account.

I like puzzles where in a word, each letter stands for another word. I searched for a word that would contain M for Management, U for Use and P for Produce. The first that came to my mind was MANIPULATE.

In the next moment I thought, “I don’t like this word. It has some negativity to it.” But then I realized that it was my personal perception of it, with some colouring of the cultures I grew up in and was exposed to.

Technically speaking, to manipulate means first and foremost “To move, arrange, operate, or control by the hands or another body part or by mechanical means, especially in a skilful manner” (The Free Dictionary). Only in its second meaning it has to do with influencing someone having bad intentions.

So, let’ use the first meaning of the word “manipulate”, that is, skilfully arrange and control the life-cycle of your product or services.

A short comment on the life-cycle. This term is used to denominate to whole process from the idea, to implementation, through production, use, over to termination of the production and elimination (or often also called re-cycling) of the old products.

Let’s see what activities emerge from each of the letters of the word manipulate, when we think about products and/or services.

M – Manage

A – Acquire

N – Navigate

I – Implement

P – Produce

U – Use

L – Legalize

A – Attract

T – Terminate

E – Execute

I will address each of these activities in a separate post. I intend to do it by offering you a set of questions,　which by answering them will give you an idea what you need to do so that your product or service is a success.

Here is a short overview.

M – Manage

This is often neglected, but you need know who is involved in your project and who is doing what.

For example, if you are a writer, will you have an external editor and cover designer? If you are a technical publication manager, will your department manage creation of the whole documentation or will you have some suppliers? And what are the roles within your department?

Both internally and externally, the management is very important. You need to know if your editor, cover designer, data (or　any other goods)　supplier would have time　to work for you when you need it. And you need to know if they are willing to work with you at all.

You also need to know how,　how often and according to which criteria you have to interact with your partners and your customers in respect to your products and services. This is especially important about information updates, renewals of parts,　etc.

Don’t take this task too easily. It can fire back. Define your project management team and who is going to do what and when. This needs to be clarified both　 internally and externally.

As soon as you know your team, you would need to know their requirements to fulfill the task they are responsible for.

Remember, it is your product, so you are fully responsible for it. Even if your supplier is fully responsible for his or her part, you can’t outsource responsibility. And you wouldn’t want to. If you outsource responsibility, you outsource control.

A – Acquire

This is related to the Management category, but not completely. You need to know what you have to purchase for your product or service. Both in terms of other services, but of course also of material. Even in case of non-tangible materials (like files or information), you need to decide what it is, and how you can provide for their continuous flow.

But remember: business rules are also in a way plans how you are going to do something. And plans never go exactly as they are set up. So you need to be resourceful if your initial idea of the source doesn’t work. You have to be ready to find a substitute quick. Otherwise, no chance of your product to be on demand.

N – Navigate

How easy it is to find a way to use your product? Did you provide all the accompanying information necessary? Or does the customer stay in front of your fancy vacuum cleaner and searches for a button to start it, whereas she just has to shout out　“Start vacuuming!”?

I – Implement

What do you need to implement all your great ideas? You might have all the materials in place, the team is ready and keen to start, but nobody knows were to start. For example, in an S1000D project, before starting any coding in XML and filling all those tags with sophisticated technical terms about your product, you need to draw a tree. Yes, a tree, a structure of your product. Of the technical publication you want to produce. Each leaf being a bundle of reusable data, also named a data module.

And this would be true for any product or service.

In other words, here you define a mind map of how to start the　fabrication or creation process for your product or how you roll out your service.

P – Produce

These rules are about the production process and/or how your service functions. You can think here of flow charts. This is different from the implementation mind maps above. Because those are meant to ignite and roll out the process. As soon as you went through those procedures, you forget about them, unless you introduce a new product or service, or a new aspect to the current product.

The production business rules are about repeatable processes as long as the product is on sale. And they include the quality assurance procedures.

U – Use

This is about the rules that the customer, the end-user of your product needs to follow in order it to function correctly and for as long as possible.

Do you remember that commercial I mentioned in the last post, when a gentleman used an smart tablet for chopping vegetables? Well, it worked wonderfully as a chopping board, but I doubt it would work as a TV afterwards.

So, you need to define the purpose of the product use. In other words, what it is good for and also the terms or conditions of its use. Including the caution not to drop your tablet too many times on a tiled floor and not to use it under a pouring rain.

L – Legalize

There are two aspects to this type of business rules. First is　connected directly to your product. Such as copyright, patents and other.

And then it is about legalization of the business rules themselves. It can be either in form of a contract between the producing companies and also the users (the contract is　one of integral parts of your business rules!)　or simple agreement between you and your spouse, who reads and edits your novel, like in case of some renowned writers. You need to be sure that he or she doesn’t concentrate solely on changing the character names while reading and critiquing your novel.

A – Attract

However much we try to say, “Only the inside matters”, your product or service needs to be attractive to your customer　and easy to use. I doubt that your motivational app will find many affected fans, if its background is all black and each new screen has a skull glaring at you.

T – Terminate

Nothing is eternal. Except eternity itself.

And so your product or service will have to go one day and be replaced with a fresh and radiant successor. You have to set up criteria, when this will be the case. And you have to decide (sooner or later) how you want to let your customers know about it. You have to warn them in advance and make sure that they don’t suffer tremendous challenges because of you giving up on a certain product or service.

Another question here is how do you re-cycle your old products or services? Yes, your services needs re-cycling too. There are too many empty sites on the web, which lead to nowhere. And if you still want to be in business that you are (or at all), you want to make sure that none of the sites you offer have a dead end.

I like the comment which sometimes appears under the 404 Error when as page is not found on the Internet, “Somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?”

Well, yes, this can happen to anyone.

In Russian the words for embarrassing are “ne udobno”, which also means uncomfortable. Which is true, we are never comfortable when being embarrassed.　A friend of mine in Moldova　used to say, “The only embarrassing (uncomfortable) thing is to sleep on a ceiling. The duvet keeps falling down.”

Yes, you don’t need to feel embarrassed for what might seem in retrospect not exactly right.　But you better　offer your customer a stapler to make that duvet stay in place.

E – Execute

The business rules types in this guide are defined in such a way that you can define them sequentially, from M to E in the word “MANIPULATE”. From Management to Execute. Of course you need to verify and adjust the documents on the preceding types as you move to the next.

This last business rules type is where you tie it all up together. You verify whether you can start your production or service, or introduce the new branch to your company.

Here you decide whether you have the necessary minimum to start a reliable implementation and production processes. Of course, you don’t have to and you can’t define everything before you start production or launch your service. But you have to have minimum at hand. And you need a plan (including the time table) of how you will achieve both reliable production/service and further development of business rules in parallel to it. Remember that the update of the business rules must be a part of your normal product’s/service’s fabrication/creation and sustainment routine.

And as soon as you think that you are ready, you go out there in your town, or on Internet, and push the button of your production line or cut the red ribbon of your shop front.

This post is a part of “Business rules: General”, copyright © 2015-2016 by Victoria Ichizli-Bartels

Questions to the picture: How would you compare these two pine trees? If these were two sisters, how would you compare them?

Did I attract your attention with the title of this post? Or with the caption to the picture above?

I hope so.

But in fact, I can’t quite figure a better way to briefly express what I am going to discuss today than to say, “Compare, and don’t … compare.”

But let me take it step-by-step.

Last time I shared with you how I discovered the meaning of business rules and with that I gave you a simple definition for this concept.

Disclaimer: At this point, I should emphasize that what I share in these posts is not exhaustive information on business rules. Neither is this supposed to agree or disagree with the definitions and material, which can be found, in already available text- and guidebooks on business rules. This material is based on my experience in a business and industries’ area where business rules are essential and where sometimes the smallest deviations and disagreements with them can lead to considerable delays and expenses.

Having said that, let me repeat, in similar words as last time, what I think business rules are.

Business rules are about products (and/or services). These are the decisions taken and agreed upon by the producing company and their partners, and directly or indirectly also by their customers, on how a certain product or service is created, maintained, used, discarded, etc. When respected, these rules help to guarantee high quality and longevity of the given product.

(Suggestion: for simplicity’s sake, let us embrace both concrete products and services with the word “product” or “products” .)

Today we will take a step closer to making those necessary decisions.

In order to identify what decisions need to be made, you have to consider your customer requirements and also analyse what you have available to fulfil the task.

And then you compare.

Let’s stop here a little.

I would like to bring up a paradox, which as soon as you read it, will cause your brows raising. Or at least it did, as soon as the contemplation on today’s post topic led me to this conclusion.

The comparison, you make, should be both detached and personal.

Let me explain how I came to this conclusion.

When you consider the product, for example when you suggest to replace a product the customer has with the product you offer, then the comparison should be detached.

Let’s take an example. Here are two numbers: 5 (five) and 3 (three).

How could we compare them?

One method, which we learned at school is, “If we subtract 3 from 5, we get 2. So they differ with 2. Or if we divide 5 by 3 then we get 1.666666…”

Another way to compare them, is to say, “Five is better, because it’s more.”

And this is the way you better don’t go when you look at the customer needs and what you can offer. If, of course, you want to sell your product to this customer.

But strangely enough, this kind of comparison is one of the most common. Also when the product is as large and as complex as an airplane.

I like how this detached way of considering is described in German. The word for it is “sachlich”. Here are a few of the possible translations I found for “sachlich”: businesslike, factual, and objective. The root of “sachlich” is the word “Sache” = thing, so we could say that this means looking at things for what they are, things.

But when you consider customer needs, then you need to be compassionate and interested in the personal needs of the customer. Even if the customer is a company.

You might say, “Wait a minute, but shouldn’t I also consider my own needs. I am here to earn money for my and my employees’ living, and you tell me to put my focus on the customer.”

Yes, I do think that you should put your focus on your customer. Because this will show you the way to go, which will be satisfactory for both.

I have to smile now how not too long ago I tried to convince my former managers that employees should come first before the customers. Especially when deadlines became a bit too tough. My reasoning was following the principle: Family first, then the others.

But what I neglected then and understand now, was the fact that the customer makes a part of this “family”.

Just like in a traditional family, there are here providers and consumers. In a traditional family, parents earn the money for living, and together with children they consume them.

In a commercial “family” there are two ways of provision and consumption: the customers provide for financial needs and the producers consume them. The producers provide products and services for the customers to consume.

Of course, I simplify these mechanisms here, both how they occur in a family and in business. But the main point is that when you compare the customer requirements and what you can offer, then do it as you would do it ideally in a family. Without judgment.

Let’s take the example I brought up in the caption of the picture above. If you have two daughters and ask yourself what necessary school items to buy for them, you wouldn’t say, “Eve is older than Mary, so she deserves a more expensive schoolbag than her sister.”

As a good parent, you would probably consider the age of the girls, how tall and strong they are, in order to choose the proper size. And then you will ask each of them for their color and style preferences. After considering how much money you can spend on two schoolbags, you choose a shop and buy the bags. You might also take the girls with you to perform the purchase.

The same way is the best when you talk to your customer. Personal and non-judgmental.

Let me introduce you to the top three solutions how to find out the delta between customer requirements and what you can offer right on the spot. This delta will give you a hint what will have to be done (find the bags that the girls need and like) and what requirement better to be forgotten (one thousand pink and green little dragons rimming the edge of the schoolbag) to find the common denominator between you and your customer.

Here are these top three:

3: You put yourself in your customer’s shoes and try to imagine what the customer would need and appreciate.

This is relatively simple for writers, because most of the successful writers (both in fiction and nonfiction) write what they want to read. In other cases, this might be a bit more challenging. You might have been a student many years ago, but the requirements by a student from a teacher (or from an e-learning program) are completely different today than ten, twenty or more years ago when you were a student.

But whatever the branch, this method gives a very subjective result, because it is based on your past experiences and on what you already know.

2: You research.

It can be on the Internet, from newspapers, books, or it can be through interviewing those who experienced in the same area. For example you might ask other parents with girls, what they did when they had to buy schoolbags for their children.

You might trust some sources more than other. And remember, the result is again very subjective. And still only from your, producer’s/seller’s, perspective.

1: You talk to your customer.

There is no other way to make the best decisions and set up rules applicable for both sides, than communication.

I wonder how little attention is often paid to communication. Maybe because we are afraid that the customer will say, “I don’t want to talk to you anymore, because you don’t have what I need.” Or as in example with the girls, we are afraid they will shout in our faces, “I hate you!” So, we talk and talk and talk, and claim that we know what is needed. Based on the limited means we have. And we are often afraid to look out for new possibilities.

I don’t intend to say that you have to make everything the customer wants. You would not buy a thousand dollar schoolbag for your daughter, if she wanted one, and you having three thousand dollars as your monthly salary.

But you can find the perfect solution for you and your daughter, for you and your customer, by truly listening and showing understanding for the customer needs. You even might end up with your day brightened, because you will have a nice chat with your daughter or your customer, and I am sure you will learn something new.

When I worked with German Defence (Bundeswehr) at the department responsible for consolidation of the Bundeswehr requirements in respect to technical publications, I have accompanied a lieutenant colonel from the training corps in the German Army to view a new truck, produced to be used in Afghanistan for different purposes, ranging from transportation, as a radio station, to a vehicle sheltering a small combat unit.

This seasoned soldier, but still in the best shape I have ever seen someone in his age, or in my age for that matter, took place behind the wheel of the truck.

And immediately he exclaimed. “No, no! This won’t work. No. No.”

The head of the project, at the producing company side, looked a bit concerned and asked what was the problem.

The lieutenant colonel took a few seconds to scan inside of the cabin, then jumped out of the truck and joined the rest of us at the vehicle’s side. “Well,” he said. “The ceiling is much too low. Imagine a soldier in Afghanistan driving this truck on a bumpy road. All roads there are bumpy. He’ll be hitting his head constantly on that ceiling.”

We all gushed in recognition and surprise how we hadn’t seen it ourselves.

The lieutenant colonel shrugged. “You couldn’t have known it. Because you never were in Afghanistan on a bumpy road. Or in a truck on a bumpy road.” He turned to the head of the project team and said, “And I would’ve never be able to design or build such a truck, because I have never done it before.”

The lieutenant colonel turned to the engineer taking notes. “Is there a room to make the ceiling taller.”

The answer was, “Yes”. Then a number was given, which I don’t recall today.

After that the whole thing was settled and agreed.

What I am trying to tell with these true and memorable for me stories, is that you would never be able to find out such fine details on the customer requirements if you don’t have personal communication with your customer.

There is a brilliant commercial, in which an elderly gentleman shocks his daughter when he uses the tablet, she gave him for his birthday, as a kitchen chopping board for vegetables.

So, if you would like to avoid misunderstandings, unnecessary costs, and upsets on both sides, simply do all three of the top-tree I listed above. Maybe in this order: do the necessary research, talk to your customer and put yourself in your customer’s shoes, while truly listening.

Thus, the first step in defining your business rules is to compare what the customer wants and needs, and what you have to offer, and do it without judgment of either of the sides.

Next week, we will consider various types of decisions to be taken when agreeing on the product and/or service’s details.

Call for comments: Thank you for reading and considering this information! Do you agree or disagree with the above? And why? Your opinion will help to make this topic more understandable.

This post is a part of “Business rules: General”, copyright © 2015-2016 by Victoria Ichizli-Bartels

I love talking about business rules. Having been involved in S1000D® (International specification for technical publications) community for eleven years and having discovered how important business rules are, I use these two words most probably more often than ten times a day.

I did resist them at first and denied my affinity to them. I used to claim that my interest went rather to the implementation guide for S1000D and not to the business rules.

One possibility for this resistance might have been the power transmitted by the word “rules” and the mildness of the word “guide”. Who wants to follow the rules? I better be guided and step off the guided track if I don’t feel like it, right?

But business rules where in everyone’s mouth in the S1000D community in fall of 2005, when I became a chair and co-chair of then freshly created Implementation Guide and Business Rules task teams. It was clear that you needed functioning rules in order to produce a reliable, stable, and usable information for products utilized by many and for critical purposes, like in the military. And not any kind of rules, but precise and that everyone understood.

Yes. This was the “tiny” problem in all this. For them to be precise and understandable. And for their definition to be precise and understandable.

“What are actually business rules?” I’ve been often asked.

Ever since leading the business rules team, which later became a working group, I had never believed that there was a simple answer to this. When somebody asked me what business rules were, I answered, “Well, everything! Every decision you make in your work, connected to technical publications, is a business rule.”

Confused looks and frowns came always in reply to this answer.

Our group did find a definition for the specification. This is what S1000D says since 2012:

“Business rules are decisions that are made by a project or an organization on how to implement S1000D. Business rules cover all aspects of S1000D and are not limited to authoring or illustrating. They can also address issues that are not defined in S1000D such as rules related to how S1000D interfaces with other standards, specifications and business processes that are related to its implementation.”

But does this apply only to S1000D and technical documentation?

Of course not!

By the way, did you notice the following phrase in the definition above: “They can also address issues that are not defined in S1000D …”?

Here we go again: everything is a business rule.

So about two months ago, I was genuinely shocked when I heard myself giving a simple and precise answer to the question I’d heard probably more than thousands times before that.

“What are business rules?” my brother-in-law, Poul, asked.

My then nine-months old daughter Emma and I met Poul for a coffee, after coming to Århus to apply for Emma’s first passport.

After having her bottle of milk, Emma happily crawled around and under the tiny coffee table Poul and I were sitting at.

My maternity leave was coming to end, and I was about to decide what I would be doing after that.

“Can’t you use the knowledge you gathered in the area you’ve worked before Emma?” Poul asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe. S1000D is very specific, but I guess knowledge about business rules is applicable to many areas.”

Poul interrupted my usual flow about one of my favourite topics. “I know what business plans are,” he said. “But what are the business rules?”

After a short thought I said,
“Business plans are about a company, its plans how it is going to operate and what it wants to achieve in the near and far future.
Business rules are about products. These are the rules the company and their partners, and to some extent also customers, need to agree upon and follow in order the products (including services) to be of high quality and longevity.”

Poul thought for a second, nodded his consent and continued discussing my professional future.

But I didn’t follow him at first. I was dumbfounded. It was a good answer! Simple and actually quite precise. After giving it, I understood myself what the business rules were.

Since that time I have repeated this answer in its various forms to my husband, friends in the S1000D community and anyone who would listen. All nodded their understanding and consent. And they showed interest! I was losing my listeners before that.

I am probably not the first to understand this. And maybe this is obvious to others. But for me it was an epiphany. Especially because it proved to me that one of the topics, which I considered to be one of the most complicated, could be so simple.

Yes, business rules are about products and services, or anything that is offered for sale. And business plans are about the companies, who offer these things for sale.

That simple.

I am grateful to Poul for asking me that question and for the way he asked it.

P.S. In the next post you will be able to learn what the business rules (that is the decisions you make in respect to the product or service you sell) are composed of, and the first big step in defining them.

This post is a part of “Business rules: General”, copyright © 2015-2016 by Victoria Ichizli-Bartels