2015
hybris Project Patterns Atanas Aladjov
Today, even a trivial e-commerce project becomes a challenge, when using an evolved highly customizable platform such as the hybris Suite.
2014
What if we look at a hybris project as being a sequence of activities, which repeat over and over again – like patterns? Then, for each difficulty we face, we could find a solution ‌
Praise for hybris Project Patterns
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Praise for hybris Project Patterns For the best part of 15 years, I have had the pleasure of working with Atanas or following him in the building of his impressive career. When he joined me and my team to start work in Northern Europe as a trainer consultant, I could not have fathomed he would develop himself into the knowledge buster in the field of e-commerce and specifically hybris. Starting as a gifted trainer, Atanas patiently explained his theories all over Europe. Moving on through various consulting companies, Atanas kept improving himself and moved gradually from the nitty-gritty technical programming towards an overview of systems and how things could be made easier and more solid. Eventually he decided to do it alone, and although Time2Know had already been established, Atanas had to become the entrepreneur he is today. Through sheer determination and courage (it’s not easy for a Bulgarian smarty pants in a Calvinistic country such as The Netherlands is) he build relationships and continued to patiently and emphatically tell his ideas to anyone who wants to hear it. And there it is: it turns out that quite a lot of people want to hear it. So it’s no surprise that there was a book in the making. Finally Atanas has written it all out, in a simple manner, easy to understand for even the most unlikely people (I am one of these). It’s not a book in the traditional sense: it doesn’t need reading in a consecutive order. You may want to go back and forth through the tips and practices that Atanas has recorded. The book works just as his mind does: its mapped out in a mindmap. Thanks to Atanas’ hard work and determination, we now have the pleasure of improving ourselves with his knowledge and experience. It will help teams immensely to focus better by using a product information management system (PIM) and to implement a patterned approach to hybris projects. Recently Atanas joined my team to share his knowledge on e-commerce projects with us and since my co-workers can deliver better quality in our projects and bring sustainable, high performance solutions to our customers. It is a pleasure and an honour to know Atanas. I wish him all the success in the world with Time2Know and his quest to make our lives easier! ~ Paul Kool, Owner of New Penguins
Testimonials
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Testimonials “Atanas is one of the few hybris experts that combines deep technological know-how with practical know-why of hybris. He is fluent in both processes and architecture. Atanas is a very agile and friendly co-worker that mingles seamlessly with the organization. Every time I call upon him, he is of GREAT value to me on hybris projects.” ~ Jan Andries Mulder, UX & Product Strategist, eLab - A. S. Watson Group
“Atanas worked for a year on our hybris new platform project. He’s been a key player to drive functional phases – in Conception as well as in Build – thanks to his excellent knowledge of the solution. He’s been a positive partner, always trying to find out the best way to achieve our strategic goals. Atanas is reliable and implicated.” ~ Valérie Utges, Internet IT Director, Yves Rocher
“Atanas has played a crucial role in supporting us during the bid process that resulted in the win of multi-million dollar deal for a top fortune-500 customer. His in-depth understanding of hybris, business processes and requirements management and his clear way of communicating helped us to quickly deliver a proposal that eventually got us the contract. Atanas has a remarkable combination of professional experience and knowledge from literature. His recommendations for books and articles have set me on the right track many times, it’s hard to find a day in my professional life where I haven’t used the knowledge he has taught me.” ~ Romke Jonker, Solution Architect Arvato Systems, North America
“Atanas is a great listener and inspiring person. Inspiring because of his creative solution thinking. And his excellent hybris knowledge helped us very much in our hybris project, where we were facing a lot of challenges. His advise brought us where we are today - a successful webshop.” ~ Zenna Olfers, eCommerce Program Manager, Fabory - a Grainger company
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Testimonials
“In a complex situation, Atanas brought – in a very short time – his ability to understand the issues we experienced and invent possible solutions. He used his deep knowledge of hybris platform to build a solid and convincing action plan. The result of his work was a significant increase of the Client’s confidence in the team to achieve the project objectives.” ~ Lionel Marcouire, Project Director, Cdiscount, Groupe Casino
“Atanas worked with my team on a global hybris B2B e-commerce implementation at one of our industrial clients. His work was always of highest quality and on time. We had great help of his skills on how to best use the hybris commerce platform to greatest advantage. “ ~ Mikael Pettersson, Nordic Lead for Interactive Delivery, Accenture
“Atanas is a skilled professional on e-commerce matters and more especially on hybris software. I have had the pleasure to work with Atanas during different projects and he was always considered as an asset contributing directly to the success of the project. He shares his knowledge and expertise, in the proper way, which drives the overall improvement of the project team. Besides, he is always willing to bring more value to anyone and proposing improvement actions. Thank you, Atanas for everything you have provided to us!” ~ Yannik Milleau, Entrepreneur in Digital Commerce
“For the past 2 years, Atanas has been engaged in my region to support various hybris implementations. He has been providing expertise in various areas such as leading business workshops, coaching Business Analysts, defining commerce project scope. Not only Atanas can help in gathering and defining Client’s requirements in the most efficient way, he brings many years of experience in business process- and project management. Moreover, he can efficiently define and implement the appropriate methodology for the success of a project.” ~ Thomas Amblard, Director Services France, BeLux & South Europe, hybris France SAS
hybris Project Patterns by Atanas Aladjov
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Colophon
hybris Project Patterns Š 2014 Property of Mobilepaza EOOD. All rights reserved. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are clamed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and the author was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed with initial capital letters or all in capitals. The author has taken care of the preparation of this book, but makes no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of the use of the information contained herein. This publication contains references to the products of hybris AG. hybris, the hybris logo, the hybris Omnichannel Suite, the hybris Accelerators and other hybris AG products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of hybris AG in Switzerland. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Data contained in this document serves informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary. hybris AG is neither the author nor the publisher of this publication and is not responsible for its content. hybris AG shall not be liable for errors or omissions with respect to the materials. The only warranties for hybris AG products and services are those that are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services, if any. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. This book is not for sale. For permission information and authorization to copy items for corporate, personal or educational use, please contact Atanas Aladjov at a.aladjov@time2know.net.
Provided to you by Time2Know Time2Know Meerkoetlaan 13 1343 AW Almere, The Netherlands contact@time2know.net www.time2know.net Sponsored for you by MobilePlaza Mobileplaza EOOD Vazrazhdane District, 46 “Opalchenska� Str., floor 7 Sofia 1309, Bulgaria
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Page Reference
Why and What
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................................ 23 Why hybris Project Patterns? ......................................................................................................................... 29
Set the Base for Success
The Client ................................................................................................................................................................. 37 Overall Consulting Guidance ......................................................................................................................... 45 hybris Functional Consultant ......................................................................................................................... 49 Workshop ................................................................................................................................................................. 55 Virtual Product ....................................................................................................................................................... 65 PIM Awareness ..................................................................................................................................................... 75 Domain Methodology .......................................................................................................................................... 87 Software Methodology ...................................................................................................................................... 97
Doing the Right Thing
Platform Expectations ....................................................................................................................................... 105 Young Partner ........................................................................................................................................................ 111 Zero Efforts .............................................................................................................................................................. 121 Glossary .................................................................................................................................................................... 127 Requirements Gathering .................................................................................................................................. 133 User Experience Design Planning ............................................................................................................... 145 Communication .................................................................................................................................................... 153
Doing the Thing Right
Internal Process Alignment ............................................................................................................................ 163 System Actors ........................................................................................................................................................ 169 Pages Inventory .................................................................................................................................................... 179 Integration Points Inventory ............................................................................................................................ 191 Internationalization .............................................................................................................................................. 199 Back Office Usability ........................................................................................................................................... 209 User Enablement .................................................................................................................................................. 219
Epilogue
Next Steps ................................................................................................................................................................ 233 Inspiration Sources ............................................................................................................................................. 235
Table of Contents
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Why and What Set the Base for Success Doing the Right Thing Doing the Thing Right Epilogue
Gratitude
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Gratitude This book was born out of necessity: I wanted to collect all the practical bits and pieces, which would allow a professional team to excel in a hybris project. For the project deficiencies I had witnessed, it was my desire to record (all) possible solutions and share them with others. I was able to prove the solutions repeatedly, but wanted to challenge them also with other hybris practitioners. The writing started 3 years ago and I only recently dared to call the bunch of articles, I had stocked, “a book”. Most of the articles are available on my website www.time2know.net, but a book is something people can hold, scribble over and use as a guide. In my endeavor I was not alone… I offer a heartfelt thanks to my friend and sounding board Paul Kool, who did not let me give up the fragile idea of publishing a book. I owe him my professional start and years of caring support. He and the designer Linnah Schut, from New Penguins, made the existence of this book possible – in colors, flesh and soul. A special thank you to my agile coach Mike Cohn who patiently answered tons of my questions about agility, lean-ness and … writing articles. Without his tuition and tips, I would not be able to consolidate my publications in one comprehensive creation – this book. I owe a great thank you to my colleague and friend Romke Jonker – an excellent mind – for spending endless brainstorming sessions with me and reviewing some sections of the book. Many thanks, also to Jan Andries Mulder, a collaborator and a friend, who frequently challenged my ideas and beliefs. From him I acquired the first practical lessons on e-commerce and merchandizing. Gratitude, Jonathan Moeller, for teaching me a lot about consulting and entrepreneurial thinking. Our discussions contributed significantly to my personal development and professional growth. I must not forget to thank my past and present Clients for everything they teach me – for the inspirations, challenges and solutions, which are now the mere essence of this book. There’s no way to thank my family enough for supporting me in this writing: my wife Angelina – who gave me courage to publish the book and proposed the initial book design, – and our two kids Andreas and Adriana. They sacrificed evenings and weekends without me, giving me the precious freedom to write and finish this book. As of today, I can dedicate all my time to them.
About the Author
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About the author Atanas Aladjov is the founder of Time2Know, through which he provides education and consulting on Agile software development, e-Commerce and Master Data Management. With more than 15 years of experience, Atanas has been engaged in diverse e-Business programs, where data, information and User experience have intertwined in a modern mix of B2C, B2B and B2E scenarios. Atanas specializes in guiding companies adopt agile practices and become lean as a way of becoming high performance business organizations. Atanas is a hybris Contractor Partner. His passion is to help hybris partners build quality solutions, through a structured approach and care for the Business Client. In the last years, Atanas has been acting as a project coach, a principal hybris consultant and a functional team lead. Moreover, Atanas is a Certified Product Owner, and possesses professional certificates in UML, Java and Microsoft technologies. Time2Know has been found with one sole purpose – to attract and share knowledge. It has started in 2006 as an education company, producing more than 40 ICT courseware titles and e-learning modules. The firm has been a loyal partner to recognized training centers and international software enterprises.
For more information, visit www.time2know.net Atanas maintains a blog at time2know.net/blog He can also be contacted by email at a.aladjov@time2know.net
Dedication
To all hybris practitioners, That includes YOU
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Why and What WHY a hybris Book?
Executive Summary
Why and What
WHAT is in the Book? For WHO is this Book? HOW is the Book Organized? HOW to Use the Book?
Why hybris Project Patterns?
Today, even a trivial e-commerce project becomes a challenge, when using an evolved highly customizable platform such as the hybris Suite. What if we look at a hybris project as being a sequence of activities, which repeat over and over again – like patterns? Then, for each difficulty we face, we could find a solution ‌
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Executive Summary
WHY a hybris Book
“
Do not follow where the path leads, rather go where there is no path, and leave a trail ~ David Perkins
The hybris community is still in its infancy – young and hungry for knowledge, but daring to succeed. At present, the hybris company has a large volume of partners and customers, who benefit from the various versions of the hybris software Omni-channel Suite. Globalization of languages and data, complex Customer touch-points and Organizational transformations put forward new demands on the realization of e-business programs, where complexity goes beyond the regular software project. Today, even a trivial e-commerce project becomes a challenge, when using an evolved highly customizable platform such as the hybris Suite. And the complexity does not come from the direct business requirements. It often stems from the assumed project commodities, which every project should possess, like, a “careful sales process”, a “right level of consulting”, “correct project setup”, “knowledge of the hybris platform”, “awareness of e-Commerce practices”, “understanding the organizational changes when embracing a PIM solution”, and so on. Nowadays, Technology does not pose a real challenge in constructing a software product, because the maturity of the current technologies allows us to achieve great results and innovate constantly. In the current book you will find little about technical topics, because solutions to them are normally found in the best practices documentation of hybris. In addition, every hybris-savvy company has a good bunch of practices, which master the technology.
Why and What
Executive Summary
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Executive Summary
Why and What
The true challenges, in hybris projects, are from organizational, methodological and soft-skills nature.
As with any other complex software platform, the hybris Suite compels a certain level of expertise in order to be suitably presented, understood and adopted. It is for this very reason that a hybris project requires a hybris skillset for every project role – an exclusive expertise, which allows coverage of all solution’s aspects and extracts the highest value for the client. The project success, to a large extend, depends on the skills of the hybris Partners in delivering high-quality solutions, the maturity of the development teams and the adopted common practices. It is a fact, that Partners face a steep learning curve in implementing hybris solutions. As a result, one can observe the development of questionable in-house project practices, adhoc solutions and even, consulting anti-patterns. Companies encounter those challenges in different phases of the project life cycle – in various steps and magnitudes. Now, there is a momentum to guide the fine hybris community in the right direction – to fuse minds and spirits, talents and objectives. Together, we can combine our expertise and produce a rich collection of Consulting Guidelines, which recommends best practices in project delivery.
Projects require structured assistance and a methodology. It is my belief that an effective project strategy should not only be User-, or Requirementscentric – it should be, first of all, Human-centric. It should enable transparency, trust and value, leveraged by suitable guidance and discipline. Because, only with those, a true progress with measurable results can be observed.
For a long time, it has been my intention to share experience and knowledge about hybris projects by using a format, which is easy to grasp and follow. My desire was to create a Consulting Guide for hybris Partners and hybris Clients, which would allow them to succeed in their hybris projects. Hence, the idea of a book came to mind…
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WHAT is in the Book The articles in this book analyze hybris projects and offer an inventory of reoccurring project deficiencies. The goal is to suggest suitable solutions to each of them, via proven practices and constructive thinking. The reading provides guidelines for Consulting practices, skills and habits, for every phase of the project – from Vision to Reality, from Pre-sales to User Enablement.
In the course of writing, I focused on topics like: • • • • •
A pattern approach to e-Commerce and Product Information Management (PIM) projects Analysis of the overall software process in creating a hybris solution Strategies in organizing hybris projects Project challenges we face and feasible solutions Agility in thinking and doing
The follow up chapters refer to well-known methodologies and common consulting practices. However, the objective is not to invent new or redefine existing methodologies, but rather to utilize their valuable elements, consolidate them and identify possible solutions for the prominent difficulties we face.
For WHO is this Book This reading is dedicated to the ever-growing hybris community – the professionals, who participate in hybris project ventures and are engaged in the whole delivery process – at Clients’ or Partners’ side.
Why and What
Executive Summary
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Executive Summary
Why and What
Hence, this book is for all of you: • • • • • •
hybris Functional Consultants, who guide a project with specific hybris functional expertise and sense of business value. hybris Technical Consultants, who devise the architectural design and realize the implementation of the project, by using the most of the underlying hybris Suite. Solution Architects and pre-sales specialists, who chart the future solutions and explain the benefits of the hybris platform at the start of the project lifecycle. Project Leads, who drive the overall project in a structured and methodological manner, being aware of possible pitfalls and risks. Business stakeholders and decision makers who should be aware about project difficulties and learn possible actions to prevent and overcome them. hybris Partners, who can share knowledge and wisdom in better consulting practices toward happy Clients and successful projects.
This book commences a journey where Business Client, Partner and hybris form an ultimate alliance towards successful implementation projects and renovated business models. In this journey, the Quality of Consulting is at the center.
HOW is the Book Organized To express the ideas as clear as possible, the book is organized in parts and subordinate chapters. However, each chapter can be used as a stand-alone topic and read separately. As a result, the book offers a rich collection of essays, addressing individual project challenges. The book can be read from a cover to cover, of course, but a reader can pick and choose those topics, which appeal most and apply directly in practice.
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HOW to Use this Book Instead of suggesting instructions about how to read this book, I would rather quote the agile coach Mike Cohn, who suggests that:
“
The best way to read a book is to use it. Don’t just read it.
The book offers a good amount of ideas, tips, blueprints, templates and concepts about prospering in a hybris project. Therefore, I encourage you to try them in your next project endeavor. But also: improve them, scale them, share them with others … This way, you will craft your own pattern approach towards hybris projects.
Why and What
Executive Summary
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Why hybris Project Patterns?
“
A key of patterns is that they’re rooted in practice ~ Martin Fowler
For the last few years I have been observing a decent number of hybris projects – from start to end – stretching from concept to realization. It could be my own personal experience, but I have hardly experienced an easy “sunshine” project without difficulties and downsides. Even more: I noticed that the problems occur over and over again, in every project – like patterns. Subsequently, I started studying them and recording thoughts on how to solve them. Thus, came the idea of compiling a list of patterns that arise in hybris software projects – describing common issues and suggesting suitable resolutions, or better – avoiding the problems in the first place.
Prelude The project complications, I observe, are not only technical – on contrary, the technical topics are frequently well handled by a squad of hybris-savvy technicians. I would consider the technical problems as “mild challenges to overcome” in comparison to the other sources of project issues. In fact, most of the things that “go wrong” happen before and after the development – from pre-sales and scoping all the way to delivery and maintenance. Those issues are related to the way the project is shaped, consulted and lead. Next to the technical and business domain expertise, a great deal of the success depends on mastering the soft-skills within the project; skills like patience, diplomacy, humility, storytelling, presenting, entertaining, drawing, sketching, negotiating, guiding, leading, motivating, and so on. Similarly to the repeating problems, the corresponding solution patterns are from various natures, but often, they are organizational, methodological and soft-skills.
Why and What
Why hybris Project Patterns?
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Why hybris Project Patterns?
Why and What
A (personal) View Over Patterns As technologies mature and the hype and dust they create initially settles, the playing field becomes clearer: a set of best practices (as well as worst practices) and patterns emerge. A pattern is basically a “template solution” – a way of solving similar problems that appear times and times again, and that has proven to offer a correct and efficient solution. The term “pattern” has been with us for a long time – it was first used by Christopher Alexander, an architect (in the traditional sense) looking to establish whether quality was something subjective or there were common, objective traits of quality when building structures. Patterns became widespread as a concept when the so-called “Gang of Four” (Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson and John Vlissides) published their “Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software” book, which described a set of basic patterns widely used in the software engineering world. Patterns are, by their own nature, generic. Just like a generic description of how to build a cathedral does not depend on its location and the stones used, so patterns are not bound to a specific technology, language or platform. Patterns are closely related to best practices because they constitute “tried-and-true” solutions that carry a valuable set of benefits extensively attempted in real-live circumstances. Using these patterns in the appropriate situation is a guaranteed way to improve the design of a project – benefiting from the experience of the creators of the pattern and the people who have applied it.
Think of a pattern as the equivalent of a chess opening. Chess openings are the distilled experience of thousands of chess players – a sequence of instructions that are deeply analyzed and guaranteed to leave you in a good starting position for developing your game. When chess masters play chess, they use chess openings blindly and mechanically, without any further thought: they just follow the script, knowing that many brilliant minds before them have analyzed the sequence and they need not repeat this analysis … and even if they did, it is unlikely that they would arrive to something better (especially when under pressure).
Although many people are talking about patterns, there is a little agreement about standardizing them. Here, in this book, I share a personal view of patterns and their applicability in e-commerce hybris projects.
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Pattern Format The pattern format used in this book is simple. Each pattern has a name. As Martin Fowler rightfully states, the name of the pattern is an important identifier, since it allows building up an expressive dictionary, which can be used in projects. Indeed, it feels comfortable when someone exclaims:
“
Your people can improve the Glossary, in the Workshop about a product Data Model
and others would recognize that lingua. The narrative about each pattern opens with a brief introduction that presents the context in which the pattern emerges. Next, is the problem – a short statement, describing situations, which lead to project traps, anti-patterns, bottlenecks and risks. The problem is paired with one or more guidelines about how to resolve the repeating issue at hand. The remaining part of a pattern is an elaborated description of the guidelines. Supported by authentic case studies and examples the guidelines will help you identify a realistic approach towards good practices and rewarding results. Even though patterns can be used independently, very often one pattern is a prerequisite for another or benefits from a preceding one. Pattern relations are important because they ensure the completeness of the whole approach. Therefore, in this book you will find description of project patterns and their interdependence with others.
Why and What
Why hybris Project Patterns?
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Why hybris Project Patterns?
Why and What
Endless Opportunities A rather special feature of patterns is their variability. Even though project situations are similar, they are never exactly the same. Hence, use the patterns from this book as recommendations, rather than prescribed recipes. And, adapt them to your environments, teams and context. Identify new patterns and grow your expertise. The situations, I write about, have been inspired by the projects I observed and joined. While the solutions I propose are mostly inspired by empirical experience and Agile practices. I would refrain from claiming that the patterns described here are “all there is to know” in a hybris project. I believe the field is too big to be captured in a single writing – the patterns will evolve and multiply in time. Rather, I would like to encourage you to use the practices here and find – with your personal experience – your own unique solutions.
Why and What
Set the Base for Success The Client
Software Methodology Domain Methodology
Overall Consulting Guidance
Set the Base for Success hybris Functional Consultant PIM Awareness Workshop Virtual Product
This part of the book outlines the fundamental principles without which a hybris project would be unthinkable. The patterns herein describe core elements of an effective e-commerce hybris project. Those are the prime patterns that give you solidity and centeredness, so you can further discover variety and achieve confidence‌