Agile Technology Selection for Smarter Decisions

Packt via Coursera

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Provider

Coursera
Pricing

Paid Course
Languages

English
Certificate

Paid Certificate Available
Duration & workload

7 hours 22 minutes
Sessions

On-Demand
Subtitles

English

Found in

Overview

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This course introduces a lean, user-focused framework for selecting technology, emphasizing agility over traditional checklist-driven methods. By replacing vendor hype with agile experiments, cross-functional collaboration, and scenario-driven proof-of-concepts, you’ll quickly identify the best-fit technology for your needs. This approach reduces risk, enhances stakeholder confidence, and ensures smarter decisions. Through practical examples and hands-on activities, you’ll learn to craft business cases aligned with goals, define measurable success criteria, and design collaborative evaluations that expose vendors' real capabilities. By mastering this approach, you will improve your ability to make informed, evidence-based decisions for any tech investment. What makes this course stand out is its focus on real-world, outcome-driven methods. Unlike conventional vendor selection processes, it blends theory with practical applications, helping you select the right technology quickly and efficiently. This course is ideal for product owners, IT strategists, procurement teams, and anyone involved in technology selection. A basic understanding of business goals and a desire to make informed decisions is all that’s needed to benefit from this course. Copyright @ 2017 Tony Byrne and Jarrod Gingras. All rights reserved. Originally published by Rosenfeld Media, LLC. This course edition is published by Packt Publishing under license from Rosenfeld Media LLC. No part of this material may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise-without prior written permission from the author or the publisher.

Syllabus

Craft a No Bullshit Business Case

In this section, we design a concise technology business-case framework, quantify TCO and ROI with defendable data, and align formal case formats to stakeholder priorities for confident investment decisions.

Build a Selection Team That Works

In this section, we define essential selection-team roles, craft a cross-functional composition plan across operations, finance, technology and users, and apply concise responsibility and communication tactics for objective, efficient decisions.

Get the Basic Foundations Right

In this section, we establish lightweight governance, define streamlined decision models, and honestly measure team capacity, enabling projects to align, accelerate approvals, scale predictably, and satisfy audit requirements.

Capture Requirements That Don't Suck

In this section, we discover how to gather stakeholder insights, write user centered business requirements, and prioritize them for persuasive requests for proposal, demos, and vendor comparisons.

Why User Stories Are Everything

In this section, we establish a standard user story template, evaluate prioritization criteria, and apply story slicing to size backlogs, highlighting how these practices streamline requirements, sequencing, and delivery.

Ask Questions That Really Matter

In this section, we transform checklist requirements into probing How does questions, employing advanced questions and answers to uncover vendor differentiation, architecture implications, and integration or migration constraints.

Find More Than the Usual Suspects

In this section, we will explore structured market scanning, use varied research to spot overlooked vendors, and design separate request for proposal approaches for product suppliers versus services firms.

How to Target the Right Suppliers

In this section, we scan technology markets to build a long vendor list, then apply objective filters and scenario analysis to craft a focused shortlist that matches specific business needs.

Find the Right Solicitation Vehicle

In this section, we will overview of choosing Requests for Information, Proposal, Quote and Demo; when to use each and how to time vendor outreach for insight without delay.

Create RFPs That Actually Work

In this section, we design structured RFPs by outlining objectives, crafting scenario-driven user stories, and standardising vendor questions and pricing tables, enabling consistent proposals and informed selection.

Keeping It Real with Bidders

In this section, we will learn to launch requests for proposal, add nondisclosure agreement safeguards, enforce clear deadlines, and study bidder behavior to select culturally aligned, reliable suppliers.

How to Evaluate Proposals Critically

In this section, we build a weighted scoring matrix, integrate qualitative risk metrics, and execute a structured downselect, enabling objective proposal ranking and faster, lower-risk project decision making.

Hold Demos on Your Own Terms

In this section, we implement a user-centric demo framework, craft crisp agendas spotlighting key deliverables, and examine common pitfalls, applying safeguards that enhance stakeholder engagement and accelerate decision-making.

Run Competitive Proofs of Concept

In this section, we will implement a bake-off proof of concept, contrast serial and parallel trials, evaluate on-premise versus cloud options, and separate technical fit from vendor culture for confident platform selection.

Negotiate Like a Pro

In this section, we demystify vendor pricing by pinpointing cost drivers and tying proposed fees to measurable business value. We then shape contracts limiting scope, liability, and risk.

Make the Right Final Selection

In this section, we construct a weighted decision matrix, review quantitative and qualitative criteria holistically, then craft an implementation roadmap to align resources and ensure post-selection success.

Adapt This Process for Selecting Services Firms

In this section, we will explore how to vet external services firms for software as a service and enterprise projects, scope expertise, set budgets, and streamline procurement to speed your next cloud implementation.